COVENTRY finally picked up some reward on their travels with a battling effort to secure a point from a 43-48 defeat at King’s Lynn.
It was only the second time on the road this season that the Buildbase Bees have added to their league total, and whilst this wasn’t the bumper four-point haul of the big win at Peterborough in May, at least it brought an end to a poor run of results away from Brandon.
Krzysztof Kasprzak and Scott Nicholls took a 4-2 in the last race to reduce the deficit to below seven points, the mark required for a league point, and it completed an incredible turnaround from Kasprzak who finished last in his first two rides, and then won his last three!
Bees were helped by the absence of Lynn No.1 Niels-Kristian Iversen, riding in Denmark despite this UK fixture being in the initial list, but Iversen’s compatriot Mads Korneliussen had an impressive night for the Stars.
The visiting riders all had their moments, although not with any great consistency, with Nicholls and Grzegorz Zengota both taking race wins and Stuart Robson successful in both of his first two outings.
The reserves’ race provided Bees with their sole victory in the opening five heats, Robson taking the flag with guest Josh Grajczonek third for a 4-2 – but the first third of the meeting also saw the Stars collect two 5-1s and two 4-2s to open up a ten-point lead.
It could have been worse for the Bees had Nicholls not been able to split Rory Schlein and Kozza Smith in Heat 4, but when the captain went for double-points in Heat 6 things didn’t go entirely to plan as he finished third, scoring two points, after being edged out in a close battle with Woodward whilst team-mate Robson won the race.
Even so, a 4-2 in Heat 7 thanks to a fast start from Zengota got Bees back into contention, but King’s Lynn received the benefit of the interval being taken early following a fall for Lasse Bjerre in the first running of Heat 8, and a home 4-2 in the re-run put their lead back up to seven.
Nicholls superbly got the better of Korneliussen and Richie Worall to win Heat 9 with Korneliussen then just edging out Robson for third place, but Bees did bring home a major advantage two races later as Kasprzak finally got on the board in Heat 11, backed up by Michal Szczepaniak ahead of Nicklas Porsing and Rory Schlein.
The gap, though, was immediately back to seven as the Stars banked a maximum in Heat 12 despite late contact between Smith and Zengota, but Kasprzak’s second win in Heat 13 with Nicholls taking third place kept Bees in the hunt.
The Stars secured victory on the night with a 4-2 in Heat 14 but second place for Aaron Summers ahead of the hard-charging Smith did make Bees’ task for a point in the last race somewhat easier, as they needed any kind of advantage rather than a 5-1.
Kasprzak shot clear again to defeat Korneliussen whilst Nicholls maintained third place ahead of Schlein to at least give Coventry an improved result compared with recent away matches, as the gap came down to five at the end.
Nicholls said: “We battled hard and I daresay we took advantage of them not having Niels. It would have been a much tougher job had he been here, but you have to take the opportunities when they’re there.
“We know our play-off dream is over but it’s about getting as many points as we can, so to come away with a point is a good result and a whole lot better than nothing.
“It’s been a tough season and we’ve all had our ups and downs, myself included, but we always put 100 per cent in, it’s our jobs and our income, but sometimes you don’t always get the rewards when the effort is there!â€
BUILDBASE BEES 43: Krzysztof Kasprzak 9, Scott Nicholls 9, Aaron Summers 6, Stuart Robson 6, Michal Szczepaniak 5+1, Grzegorz Zengota 5+1, Josh Grajczonek 3.
