COVENTRY Storm achieved their aims from Friday’s double header at Brandon – with progression to the KO Cup semi-finals confirmed and then three points added to their National League total.
Stefan Nielsen was the individual star of the night as he won all eight of his races, scoring 12-point maximums in both the City Gearboxes Storm’s 60-34 win over Buxton in the Cup followed up by a 47-37 league victory against King’s Lynn.
The second meeting was curtailed one race short due to the time curfew, but the result stands and the Storm are back into second place in the table.
The Cup match was a largely straightforward affair, as the Storm had taken a 15-point lead into the meeting, but Buxton maintained respectability thanks to the sterling efforts of 48-year-old Tony Atkin and relative speedway newcomer Adam Extance who impressed on his competitive Brandon debut.
Nielsen reeled off four comfortable wins and Oliver Greenwood was also unbeaten from four outings, with Luke Priest making an impressive debut with paid-10.
The final scoreline would have been greater but for crashes for James Sarjeant and Dan Greenwood – the latter heavily off turn four in Heat 9 – when in high-scoring positions, and the Storm were mathematically through when Oliver Greenwood won Heat 10.
But the Hitmen kept battling away with Atkin’s effort to defeat Sarjeant in the final race worthy of high praise.
CITY GEARBOXES STORM 60: Stefan Nielsen 12, Oliver Greenwood 11+1, James Sarjeant 11, Luke Priest 9+1, Martin Knuckey 7+2, Dan Greenwood 6+3, Ryan Terry-Daley 4. BUXTON 34: Tony Atkin 15, Adam Extance 12+1, Tom Woolley 3+1, Chris Widman 3, Stefan Farnaby 1+1, Layne Cupitt 0, Ryan Blacklock r/r. Coventry win 115-74 on aggregate.
CITY GEARBOXES STORM 60 Oliver Greenwood 3 3 3 2* = 11+1 Ryan Terry-Daley 1 1 1 1 = 4 Stefan Nielsen 3 3 3 3 = 12 Dan Greenwood 2* 2* X 2* = 6+3 James Sarjeant X 3 3 3 2 = 11 Luke Priest 3 1 2* 3 = 9+1 Martin Knuckey 2* 1 3 0 1* = 7+2
BUXTON 34 Chris Widman 2 1 M N = 3 Layne Cupitt X X F = 0 Ryan Blacklock Rider Replacement Tom Woolley 1 0 0 1* 1 0 = 3+1 Tony Atkin 3 4^ 2 2 1 3 = 15 Stefan Farnaby 0 F F 1* 0 = 1+1 Adam Extance 1 2* 4^ 2 1 2 0 = 12+1
A more experienced King’s Lynn team offered plenty of resistance in the following league match, with Lewis Rose in excellent form, and for long spells the visitors were in with a chance of snatching a league point although the Storm always appeared to be just in control of the match.
Martin Knuckey gained two excellent early wins, the second coming in a bizarre Heat 4 when a fall for Darren Mallett on turn two caused the other riders to slow expecting a red light, only for the race to continue.
A series of 4-2s put the Storm eight points up but the Young Stars hit back with Rose and lively reserve Scott Campos holding Ryan Terry-Daley and Knuckey back in Heat 8 to cut the gap to two points.
A Storm 5-1 from Nielsen and Dan Greenwood in Heat 9 relieved the pressure before the sides traded 4-2s – and with the Storm six-up, the match turned completely in Heat 13.
James Cockle and Darren Mallett gated on a 5-1 for the Young Stars, but Mallett was eased out into turn three by Sarjeant and Oliver Greenwood, who almost collided – but in front of them, Cockle came to grief and the Storm duo collected a 5-1 in the re-run.
Dan Greenwood’s race win in Heat 14 ultimately sealed all three points although Priest fell on turn three and was thankfully avoided by Campos who smartly laid his machine down, and that brought the action to a close.
Storm boss Laurence Rogers said: “I told the boys we had to avoid complacency in the Cup match, we got through comfortably and now we face Cradley. We were under-par there on Tuesday, and we’ve got to right that now in the semi-final.
“We made a bit hard work of the second meeting, whether tiredness crept in and we also had a few bike problems, but all credit to King’s Lynn for pushing us hard, and our boys came through in the end.
“It’s three very good points for us which takes us back to second in the table, and it was great to see Martin Knuckey going to well tonight. Two maximums for Stef was a brilliant performance, and well done to all the boys.
“We’d also like to thank the fans for turning out to support the Storm, we’re very happy with the crowd and hopefully they’ll be here next week for a big match against Stoke.â€
CITY GEARBOXES STORM 47: Stefan Nielsen 12, Oliver Greenwood 9+1, James Sarjeant 9, Dan Greenwood 7+1, Martin Knuckey 6, Ryan Terry-Daley 2+1, Luke Priest 2. KING’S LYNN 37: Lewis Rose 13, Scott Campos 8+3, James Cockle 6, Darren Mallett 5, Marc Owen 4, Josh Bailey 1+1, Kyle Hughes r/r.
CITY GEARBOXES STORM 47 Oliver Greenwood 3 2 2 2* = 9+1 Ryan Terry-Daley 0 1* 1 0 = 2+1 Stefan Nielsen 3 3 3 3 = 12 Dan Greenwood 1 1 2* 3 = 7+1 James Sarjeant 1 2 3 3 = 9 Luke Priest 1 0 1 X = 2 Martin Knuckey 3 3 0 F = 6
KING’S LYNN 37 James Cockle 2 2 2 X = 6 Kyle Hughes Rider Replacement Lewis Rose 2 3 3 3 2 = 13 Marc Owen 0 1 1 2 = 4 Darren Mallett 0 3 1 0 1 = 5 Josh Bailey 0 0 0 1* = 1+1 Scott Campos 1* 2 2 2* 0 1* = 8+3
