COVENTRY’S winning run came to an end with a 50-40 defeat at the Isle of Wight in the National League on Thursday.
The Europress Bees came up against a determined home side, fired up after two successive defeats on their own circuit, and the Warriors dominated the race wins on the night.
With Ben Morley scoring a full five-ride maximum, and fellow heat-leaders Ben Hopwood and Scott Campos collecting three wins apiece, the Bees were restricted to just three victories.
One of those came from Ryan MacDonald as Coventry picked up a 5-1 in the reserves’ race with Jamie Halder packing in for second after the Warriors’ Jamie Sealey had crashed out.
But the hosts immediately responded through Campos and Chris Widman in the next, and Bees never hit the front again.
The scores were level after Connor Mountain won Heat 5, but an unusual occurrence in Heat 6 saw both Morley and Danny Phillips penalised for separate tape-touching offences – and it was Morley who won the race with both starting from the handicap.
The Warriors extended their advantage with 4-2s in Heats 8 and 9 with the Bees reserves missing out on both occasions, and another third place from recent IOW signing Shaun Tedham helped the hosts to go eight points up in Heat 11 as Hopwood headed Mountain for his third straight win.
Bees were unable to provide a heat advantage in return, and although they shared Heat 12 with Halder getting the better of Tedham – who took extra rides after Sealey’s withdrawal – the Warriors had an unbeaten pair going to tapes for Heat 13.
Mountain did manage to split the home duo by taking second from Hopwood, but there was no stopping Morley out front as the IOW went ten points up.
Luke Ruddick kept Bees in with a chance of a league point by winning Heat 14, but another key third place from Tedham meant it was an outside chance at best.
To do so, they needed a maximum advantage in the last race, but although Mountain and Ruddick shut out Campos, they were unable to prevent Morley from completing his 15-point full house, leaving Bees nothing to show for the night.
Manager Martyn Macdonald said: "Basically it was a case of their riders having a good night, ours having an off-night and their track knowledge being superior to ours.
“We just didn’t use the track as they were using it, so we kept getting picked off and not really learning from it – although saying that, everyone scored but it didn’t add up to beating them this time.
"It was looking a bit grim from just before the interval but we did redeem things a bit later on so it wasn’t ‘bad’-bad, but a loss is a loss.
"They had the two Bens back, and I don’t think the smashed knuckle affected Ben Hopwood too much – so it’s one of those nights, and we have to forget about it and concentrate on winning at home on Sunday.â€
TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE ISLE OF WIGHT 50: Ben Morley 15, Scott Campos 10+1, Ben Hopwood 10, Chris Widman 7+1, Shaun Tedham 4+1, Danno Verge 4, Jamie Sealey 0 COVENTRY 40: Connor Mountain 11, Luke Ruddick 7+3, Jon Armstrong 6, Danny Phillips 6, Ryan MacDonald 4+1, Jamie Halder 3+2, Luke Harris 3+1,
