COVENTRY were beaten 42-48 by Belle Vue at Brandon on Friday – with the Aces going to the top of the Elite League table at the end of an eventful and controversial night.
The Buildbase Bees will rue several key moments in the second half of a meeting littered with re-starts and also containing some top-class racing in front of another big crowd.
Polish youngster Kacper Woryna collected his highest score for the club with an impressive 11+1, but he was also left battered and bruised from a heavy crash in Heat 11 just as Bees were fighting back into the meeting.
The Aces had been the victims of a tough call in Heat 6 when Craig Cook slowed on the first bend believing the race had been stopped, after what did appear to have been an unsatisfactory start.
But in fact the race continued with Danny King surging around Matej Zagar on the first lap to bring Bees level after they had twice fallen behind in the early stages.
Both Krzysztof Kasprzak and skipper Chris Harris failed to score from their opening outings, and Ben Barker missed out in a fierce battle with the Worrall brothers in Heat 5 – although wins for Woryna, King and James Sarjeant did keep Bees on terms.
Heat 7 produced arguably the race of the season at Brandon with Kasprzak and Harris taking on Scott Nicholls and Max Fricke with the first two and a half laps providing multiple position changes before Harris re-passed Nicholls to team up with Kasprzak for a 5-1.
But the Worrall brothers immediately hit back for the Aces in the next to make it 24-24, and at that point things started to go against the Bees.
Barker and Woryna held a 5-1 over a hard-charging Fricke for three laps of Heat 9, but Barker then hit bike trouble coming out of turn two, leaving the door wide open for Fricke to burst from third to first and repel Woryna’s fierce challenge around the final two bends. It turned the race into an Aces’ 4-2 and the resultant six-point swing was costly or the Bees.
Belle Vue moved into a four-point lead, which Bees looked set to cancel out in Heat 11 with Woryna again proving a trump card as he and Kasprzak headed Nicholls. The former Coventry captain dived for the inside at the start of lap three and the two riders made contact on turn two with both falling, Woryna heavily.
Nicholls was disqualified by referee Chris Gay but with Cook well at the back at the time, there was general surprise when a re-start was ordered – and on this occasion the Belle Vue man managed to split the home riders to limit Bees to a 4-2.
Bees still levelled matters in Heat 12 with another win for Woryna, whilst Richie Worrall overhauled Sarjeant for second, but at 36-36 and ahead of a big Heat 13, Kasprzak suffered ignition trouble when leaving the pits and was forced onto borrowed machinery.
That left him scoreless from the race, and although Harris kept Bees in touch with a brave effort to re-pass Matej Zagar for second place, the Aces had the sniff of victory which they confirmed with a 5-1 from Nicholls and Fricke in Heat 14.
Harris then pulled off a stunning first lap in Heat 15 to go past Zagar and Cook to limit the visitors to three league points, although with six points from successive-nights trips to Swindon and Brandon, Belle Vue were unlikely to be complaining.
Harris said: “It’s disappointing, and it was one of those nights for us. We were all up and down, and I had a terrible night.
“If you’re not scoring points for the team you’re not earning money, and I suppose it rubs off on the rest of the team when the captain is having a bad night. KK had bike problems as well, Danny had an okay night and it’s just frustrating all-round.
“But it was nice to see Kacper going well especially before his crash, up until then he was flying, and winning races does help the lower order to build their confidence up.â€
ELITE LEAGUE COVENTRY 42: Kacper Woryna 11+1, Danny King 9, Chris Harris 7+1, Krzysztof Kasprzak 6, James Sarjeant 5, Josh Bates 3, Ben Barker 1 BELLE VUE48: Matej Zagar 10+1, Max Fricke 8+1, Craig Cook 8+1, Steve Worrall 7+2, Richie Worrall 7+1, Scott Nicholls 6, Joe Jacobs 2 Elite League points: Coventry 0 Belle Vue 3
