COVENTRY’S away form showed no sign of improvement as they were well-beaten at Poole on Wednesday, going down to a 56-38 defeat.
Apart from their stunning win at Peterborough at the end of May, when the Buildbase Bees themselves scored 56 points, they have failed to pick up any Elite League points on the road, which is as frustrating a statistic to management and riders as it is to supporters.
Bees missed out at Wolves on Monday despite home No.1 Freddie Lindgren suffering an off-night, and they arrived in Dorset to the news that they would not be facing double World Champion Greg Hancock with the arrival of the Pirates’ new signing delayed by visa issues.
But Poole still took eleven out of twelve points available from the rider-replacement facility, operated for the injured Chris Holder with Darcy Ward unstoppable, World Cup winner Maciej Janowski underlining his recent surge in form and Tomas H Jonasson looking a rider transformed on his comeback from injury.
Bees simply couldn’t land a serious blow on those three, with their top two riders unable to win a race in a total of nine attempts, although the effort of captain Scott Nicholls was clear for all to see as he chased opponents down throughout the meeting.
The second-strings and reserves had their moments, but not consistently enough, and the best gater again proved to be Grzegorz Zengota who book-ended a praiseworthy display with wins in Heats 3 and 15.
Aaron Summers was Coventry’s only other heat winner, that coming in the reserves’ race where Bees briefly held a 5-1 position before Micky Dyer and Rohan Tugate bundled their way past Adam Roynon.
With Jonasson swooping around the outside to get the better of Nicholls for a 5-1 with Ward in Heat 6, Zengota took a tactical ride in the next but was edged out by Janowski, Bees grabbing a 5-3 as Stuart Robson re-passed Tungate for third place.
Poole kept on providing race winners and moved 14-points clear before another Coventry 5-3 in Heat 11 as Krzysztof Kasprzak also finished second on a tactical ride, the Pole on his old home track having no answer to the flying Janowski.
Coventry’s night was summed up in Heats 12 and 13 as in the former race the home duo rode into each other on the back straight yet still recovered for a 5-1, whilst in the latter Janowski and Ward raced to a 5-1 over Nicholls and Kasprzak.
Roynon showed lightning reactions to put his bike down in Heat 14 after Tungate fell spectacularly in front of him, but even then Bees were denied an advantage by Josh Grajczonek in the re-run.
With neither Ward nor Jonasson appearing for Heat 15, Bees did take a 4-2 from the last race as Zengota denied Janowski a six-ride maximum, the Poole rider having to work hard for second place in a physical battle with Nicholls, but it was scant consolation for the visitors.
Bees boss Gary Havelock said: “We seemed to be making some headway with seven straight home wins and the win at Peterborough, but in these last three meetings the wheels have just come off in a big way.
“It’s very difficult now, but at the end of the day I’ll be telling the boys that from now until the end of the season they’re riding for their team places. If they want to ride for Coventry they’ve got to show it.
“I can only apologise to the supporters who spent their hard-earned money to travel down here and watch us, I feel for them but I guess part of being a fan is you have to take the rough with the smooth. When you’re winning it’s great, but when you’re losing it’s terrible – we’re very disappointed.â€
POOLE 56: Maciej Janowski 17, Darcy Ward 13+2, Tomas H Jonasson 12+2, Josh Grajczonek 8+1, Micky Dyer 5+1, Rohan Tungate 1+1, Chris Holder r/r. BUILDBASE BEES 38: Grzegorz Zengota 12, Scott Nicholls 7, Krzysztof Kasprzak 6+1, Michal Szczepaniak 4+2, Stuart Robson 3+1, Adam Roynon 3+1, Aaron Summers 3.
