COVENTRY Storm are through to the National League Grand Final after a 54-39 win over Kent at Brandon on Friday.
The City Gearboxes Storm set up an almost-certain clash with local rivals Cradley by seeing off the Kings by a ten-point aggregate margin in an incident-strewn encounter which was not finally resolved until Heat 14.
Skipper James Sarjeant put in a blistering performance with a stunning 18-point maximum, and he was well backed up by Dan Greenwood in particular, who added 14 (paid 16) from six rides.
The Storm dominated race wins but the visitors never stopped battling through adversity in a meeting which saw all but two of the riders falling at one stage or another – with reserve Danny Ayres deserving particular credit for an all-action display.
Heat 1 set the tone for the evening with Kings skipper Simon Lambert breaking the tapes, his partner Aaron Baseby falling in the re-run, and then at the third attempt Storm guest Joe Jacobs fell when in a clear lead with his bike bringing down Lambert and the visitors were awarded a 3-2.
Both Kent riders fell in Heat 2 after making promising starts, handing the Storm a 5-1, and the visitors lost David Mason after a last-bend spill in Heat 3 after he had been overtaken by Luke Priest.
Sarjeant and Martin Knuckey stretched the lead in Heat 4 and Greenwood rode well to keep Lambert at bay in the next – and a likely 5-1 to Coventry in Heat 6 was lost when Priest, after a superb fourth-to-second surge, lost it on the third lap.
Sarjeant was kept at bay for three laps by Ayres in Heat 7 before coming through on the back straight, before a Kent 5-1 in Heat 8 from Baseby and Ayres levelled the aggregate scores.
But the Storm quickly regained control with back-to-back 5-1s in Heats 9 and 10 and the latter was especially costly for the visitors as Ayres fell on turn three bringing team-mate Ben Morley down with him, and Morley was unable to contest the re-run.
That put the visitors up against it, with Sarjeant seeing off Lambert’s tactical ride in Heat 11 after Baseby had fallen again, whilst Greenwood defeated the second double-points effort to the visitors, given to Jason Garrad, in Heat 12 – as Ryan Terry-Daley fell on turn three when the Storm had looked set for a 5-1.
Lambert split Sarjeant and Jacobs in Heat 13 to leave the visitors needing two 5-1s to draw, and they looked set to get the first one in Heat 14 only for Martin Knuckey to crash heavily on turn two.
In the re-run, Ayres and Morley – bravely returning to competition – again went to the front and a major three-way battle followed with Greenwood getting between the pair off the final bend and being awarded second place behind Ayres in a blanket finish.
That took Coventry mathematically through, but Sarjeant and Greenwood set the seal on things with an emphatic final-race 5-1 over Lambert and Benji Compton for an eventual aggregate margin of ten points.
Manager Laurence Rogers said: “All credit to Kent for giving us a really hard battle, but the boys knuckled down and they were tremendous.
“We had a few lost points with crashes but they all bounced back up, although Martin has wrecked the front end of his bike.
“Sarj was magnificent with his 18-point max and Dan always ends the year absolutely on fire, but you can’t knock any of them, it’s a tremendous achievement and now we can look forward to the Final.â€
NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAY-OFF SEMI FINAL, 2nd leg COVENTRY 54: James Sarjeant 18, Dan Greenwood 14+2, Joe Jacobs 7, Martin Knuckey 6+1, Luke Priest 5+2, Ryan Terry Daley 4+1, Stefan Nielsen r/r KENT 39: Simon Lambert 12, Danny Ayres 9+2, Jason Garrad 8+1, Ben Morley 5+1, Aaron Baseby 3, Benji Compton 2, David Mason 0 Coventry win 98-88 on aggregate
Picture: CHRIS SIMPSON
CITY GEARBOXES STORM 54 Joe Jacobs X 3 3 1 = 7 Luke Priest 2 1* 0 0 2*= 5+2 Stefan Nielsen Rider Replacement Dan Greenwood 2 3 2* 3 2 2* = 14+2 James Sarjeant 3 3 3 3 3 3 = 18 Ryan Terry-Daley 2* 1 0 1 F = 4+1 Martin Knuckey 3 2* 1 M X = 6+1
KENT 39 Simon Lambert 3 2 4^ 2 1 = 12 Aaron Baseby X 0 3 X = 3 David Mason X = 0 Ben Morley 3 1* N 1 = 5+1 Benji Compton R 2 F 0 0 = 2 Jason Garrad 1 1* 1 1 4^ = 8+1 Danny Ayres 0 1 2 2* F 1* 3 = 9+2
