COVENTRY got their Elite League campaign off to a winning start with a 50-42 success over local rivals Wolverhampton at Brandon on Friday.
Visiting captain Peter Karlsson was in vintage form, the 45-year-old Swede racking up a remarkable 20-point haul – but that was almost half of his side’s points, whereas the Buildbase Bees gave a much more solid all-round display,
They recovered from the setback of conceding a 5-1 in the opening heat to go 12-points clear at the halfway stage, but there was work to do again when a Wolves fightback cut the gap to just a single point before Heats 12 and 13 decided the match in Coventry’s favour.
All members of the Bees side had at least one win or paid win, and the result was achieved without Stuart Robson, who had crashed at Redcar on Thursday – his Bears team-mate Matej Kus stepping in and taking the flag in Heat 5.
Reserves James Sarjeant and Jason Garrity again had near-total domination in the lower order, with the value of priority on fixture clashes clearly evident as Wolves struggled to cover the absence of Lewis Blackbird.
Garrity and Sarjeant got Bees level after Hans Andersen had been forced wide by Freddie Lindgren on the first bend of the opening race – and Lindgren himself was left chasing in Heat 3 as Danny King and skipper Chris Harris hit the front to put Coventry ahead for the first time.
Kus took Heat 5 with Wells bundling inside Garrity on turn four in a Bees 4-2, and there was a big result for the home side in the next race as debutant Joonas Kymakorpi switched inside Lindgren coming off turn two and was soon joined by King for another maximum over the Wolves No.1
Karlsson brilliantly repelled a repeated outside challenge from Harris to win Heat 7, but Sarjeant added another top-five scalp to his growing list as he defeated Wells in the next, putting Bees 30-18 up and seemingly in full control.
But with Karlsson going for double in Heat 9, the fast-gating Garrity locked up on turn one and lost all momentum, with Josh Bates taking advantage to join his captain for an 8-1 – and two 4-2s followed, with Kus losing third place to Jacob Thorssell on the last lap of Heat 11 when he hit mechanical trouble.
Suddenly Bees had a meeting to win again, just one point ahead, and their reserves were up to the task once more as Sarjeant and Garrity kept Bates at bay for a 5-1 in Heat 12, before it all went wrong for Wolves in the next.
Andersen made his best start of the night and was joined up-front by Harris, who rounded Lindgren in spectacular style at the end of lap one before Thorssell came to grief on turn two – and with the race stopped just before Andersen had completed his second lap, it had to be re-run.
This time Lindgren nearly got his front wheel ahead exiting turn two but Andersen maintained the lead with Harris charging through on the inside, and Lindgren then came to grief on the third bend, earning a disqualification and handing Bees a 5-0 which effectively confirmed their win.
The visitors could still have snatched a point of their own, but they would need a 5-1 in the last race to do so after Karlsson was finally beaten by King in Heat 14.
And a consolation looked on the cards when Karlsson made a flyer and was joined by Lindgren up-front – but Harris ensured there would be nothing for the Monmore men as he again made it around the outside to split the Swedes, although there was no catching the incredible Karlsson.
King said: “I think we showed a lot of strength tonight, and when they pulled it back to one point we kept our cool, had a bit of a chat and it just goes to show the team we’ve got, to respond like that.
“I’m really happy with the races I won, and obviously really disappointed with the two lasts, which were mistakes that I made. I’m confident the bikes are going good, so it’s just down to me to smooth things out a bit.
“PK was flying but I knew if I could get in front of him on the first corner I could win, I concentrated on getting there first and I like riding wide out there. I couldn’t have gone much further, but that’s where you’ve got to be!”
BUILDBASE BEES 50: Chris Harris 10+2, James Sarjeant 10+1, Danny King 8+1, Hans Andersen 7+1, Jason Garrity 6+1, Joonas Kylmakorpi 5+1, Matej Kus 4. WOLVERHAMPTON 42: Peter Karlsson 20, Ricky Wells 8+2, Freddie Lindgren 8, Josh Bates 3+1, Jacob Thorssell 2, Stefan Nielsen 1, Tobiasz Musielak r/r.
BUILDBASE BEES 50 Hans Andersen 1 1* 2 3 = 7+1 Matej Kus 0 3 1 0 = 4 Danny King 3 2* 0 3 0 = 8+1 Joonas Kylmakorpi 1* 3 1 0 = 5+1 Chris Harris 2* 2 2 2* 2 = 10+2 Jason Garrity 3 1 R 2* = 6+1 James Sarjeant 2* 2 3 3 = 10+1
