TABLE-TOPPING Coventry Storm gave another demonstration of their potential for 2014 with an impressive 54-39 National League win over Kent at Brandon.
The City Gearboxes Storm had expected a tricky evening as they went up against one of the more fancied sides without the in-form Oliver Greenwood – but in the event, the rest of the team covered superbly.
And had it not been for a host of lost points, with Dan Greenwood, Stefan Nielsen and Luke Crang all falling when in scoring positions and James Sarjeant suffering a broken chain when clear at the front, the final scoreline would have been even more emphatic.
Sarjeant’s failure, in fact, looked like it could turn the meeting as it came when Kent’s Ben Morley was on a tactical ride, and the last-bend breakdown for the Coventry skipper in Heat 7 allowed the Kings an 8-1 advantage when they had seemed set for just a 5-3.
But Sarjeant was otherwise impeccable on his way to wins in his other five outings, neatly pouncing on an error by opposing skipper Simon Lambert to take Heat 11 – although Lambert did gain some consolation by defeating Sarjeant in the Bronze Helmet match race after the main event.
Crang underlined his rapid progress with a string of fast wins, and he was unbeaten until a fall on the first lap of Heat 15 when he was going for a six-ride paid maximum.
Dan Greenwood recovered well from a fall in his first ride and a last place in his second to record eight points from his next three – whilst Stefan Nielsen’s only dropped points came in a heavy Heat 10 crash, with his pit crew working wonders to rebuild his machinery in order for Nielsen to combine with Sarjeant for a match-clinching Heat 13 5-1.
There was another solid display by Ryan Terry-Daley at reserve, scoring in every outing and defeating the vastly experienced David Mason along the way, and Martin Knuckey can also take encouragement from a much-improved display in the other reserve berth.
Kent’s leading light was undoubtedly Morley, and the visitors could also be pleased with youngster Luke Harris’s excellent Heat 2 win on his first ride at Brandon, whilst Luke Chessell produced one of the moves of the night to sweep around Knuckey off the final turn of Heat 8.
But the Storm controlled proceedings despite the spate of dropped points, and are clearly going to be a major force to be reckoned with this season.
Manager Laurence Rogers said: “Luke was phenomenal tonight, and it’s just a shame that Heat 15 messed his maximum up, and Sarj would have had 18 if it hadn’t been for problems in his third ride.
“Olly’s rides picked up ten paid eleven so he only dropped one point and he wasn’t even here! But the rider-replacement is a case of looking where best to put the riders, we’d worked it out beforehand and we thought we’d get the maximum from the way we used them.
“On paper you would have thought with us being without Olly they could have given us a hard battle, but we started with a great 5-1 and we really didn’t look back.â€
CITY GEARBOXES STORM 54: James Sarjeant 15, Luke Crang 14+1, Dan Greenwood 8, Stefan Nielsen 7+2, Ryan Terry-Daley 7+1, Martin Knuckey 3+1, Oliver Greenwood r/r. KENT 39: Ben Morley 14+1, Benji Compton 7+2, Simon Lambert 7+1, David Mason 4, Luke Harris 4, Luke Chessell 3+1, Brandon Freemantle 0.
COVENTRY 54 Stefan Nielsen 3 2* X 2* = 7+2 Luke Crang 2* 3 3 3 3 F = 14+1 Oliver Greenwood Rider Replacement Dan Greenwood F 0 3 2 3 = 8 James Sarjeant 3 3 0 3 3 3 = 15 Ryan Terry-Daley 2 1 2* 1 1 = 7+1 Martin Knuckey 1* 1 1 0 = 3+1
KENT 39 Simon Lambert 1 2 2 1 1* = 7+1 Luke Chessell 0 1* 2 0 = 3+1 Ben Morley 1* 6^ 2 3 2 = 14+1 Benji Compton 2 2* 1* 2 = 7+2 David Mason 2 1 1 0 = 4 Luke Harris 3 0 0 1 0 = 4 Brandon Freemantle X X 0 = 0
