COVENTRY’S James Sarjeant has escaped serious injury in a heavy crash during the 37-53 Elite League defeat at Poole on Wednesday.
The Buildbase Bees were unable to repeat their early-season victory at Wimborne Road as they lost out in the top-of-the-table clash, and there was concern for Sarjeant who was hospitalised after coming to grief in Heat 12.
Thankfully, the 21-year-old appears to have escaped with no broken bones and is generally battered and bruised where initial concerns were over his rib area amongst other possible injuries.
Sarjeant’s accident was just one of a number of misfortunes for the Bees on a tough night in Dorset, although there was no doubt too that the Pirates were deserving winners.
Two wins for Danny King and a battling paid-11 from the livewire Jason Garrity provided the top scores for the Bees, although skipper Chris Harris would have picked up double figures but for being cruelly denied by mechanical trouble in the last race.
Harris also suffered damage in Heat 6 when he was collected by team-mate Hans Andersen who had lifted on the first bend with Harris coming to grief.
Andersen was disqualified to continue a rough night which ended with the Danish star collecting just a single point.
Stuart Robson was another Coventry rider to be disqualified, this time for an incident with a member of the opposition, with the Bees man fuming after he was ejected from Heat 8 after Kacper Gomolski fell having been leaning on Robson on the second lap.
Despite the setbacks, Bees were just four points down after Heat 9, Sarjeant and Garrity having given them their major success of the night with a 5-1 in the second race.
But the meeting went away from the Bees with a 5-1 from Dakota North and Maciej Janowski over Andersen and Robson in Heat 10, and two races later Sarjeant clipped rival Kyle Newman’s machine on the last bend when battling for the lead, his heavy crash disappointingly being accompanied by loud cheers from the home grandstand.
The Pirates stretched their lead to 12 points in Heat 13 and then a somewhat flattering 16 in Heat 15 when Harris worked overtime to get to the front after a slow start, only for his bike to cut out completely as he got past Chris Holder.
Harris said: “We were all up for it, even when we were getting beaten, and things just went against us.
“The only luck we’re getting at the moment seems to be bad luck, but there’s a long way to go yet. We’re fighters and we’ll keep on battling.
“The changes we made for the last one made it a lot better, I had good speed and I managed to catch and pass Chris, which I was pleased with because he was going well - but just as I passed him, it just seemed to stop. I’m not sure what it was, maybe ignition or a plug.â€
ELITE LEAGUE POOLE 53: Chris Holder 14, Dakota North 11+2, Davey Watt 8+1, Maciej Janowski 7+2, Kyle Newman 7+1, Kacper Gomolski 5+2, Paul Starke 1. COVENTRY 37: Jason Garrity 9+3, Danny King 9, Chris Harris 7+1, Joonas Kylmakorpi 5, Stuart Robson 3, James Sarjeant 3, Hans Andersen 1. Elite League points: Poole 3 Coventry 0
