COVENTRY moved into the National League’s top three with a thoroughly convincing 59-31 win over the Isle of Wight at Leicester on Sunday.
In sweltering conditions the Europress Bees dominated to more than avenge their ten-point defeat on the Island earlier this month.
And had it not been for the efforts of Warriors No.1 Ben Morley, who picked himself up from an awkward Heat 5 crash to score 14 points, the Bees would have easily gone through the 60-point barrier.
Morley’s only defeat came at the hands of Coventry’s top man Connor Mountain in Heat 1, and the two riders completed the meeting with a fabulous duel in Heat 15 which ranks as the race of the season involving the Bees so far.
The hosts took control with a 5-1 in Heat 2 after Warriors reserve Sam Woods had been disqualified for bringing down Jamie Halder on the third bend – and then his team-mate Shaun Tedham fell whilst third in the re-run.
A pile-up on the first bend of Heat 3 saw all four riders down with no major damage, Chris Widman laying his machine down to avoid a tangle in front of him, and in the re-run Luke Ruddick and Danny Phillips raced clear for another 5-1.
Phillips looked to have the run around Morley in Heat 5 but Ruddick lifted mid-bend and his stray bike clipped the back of Morley’s machine, sending the Isle of Wight man down on the back straight and he required treatment for a foot injury.
But Morley recovered to pass Phillips in the re-run with the Coventry man slipping off on the third bend to hand the Warriors what would prove to be their sole 5-1 of the day.
Luke Harris cleverly got the better of Ben Hopwood on the first lap of Heat 6 to team up with Mountain for maximum points, and Harris and Ryan MacDonald collected another 5-1 in Heat 8 with Danno Verge’s chase from 15 metres after breaking the tapes proving in vain.
That was the first of three successive 5-1s to completely sink the visitors, who were left facing a 42-18 scoreline before Morley could take his third ride.
The Warriors’ No.1 did win Heats 11, 13 and 15, although in between that there were two more Coventry advantages with MacDonald passing Sam Woods in Heat 12 and Ruddick completing an unbeaten show save for the Heat 5 disqualification.
And in Heat 14, Jamie Halder picked up a deserved second place in a 5-1 with Phillips, meaning all of the Coventry riders finished with at least two wins or paid wins.
The last race was the best of the day, with Morley gating only for Mountain to switch through on the inside coming off turn two. Morley responded on the second lap with the two making contact but staying aboard, and Mountain then just failed with a return challenge at the end of the lap.
Bees manager Martyn Macdonald said: “It was really good today, and I always feel it’s better to beat the away team by more than they beat us by at their place.
“It just gives it that much more of a positive spin, and I’m really happy with everyone today.
“It was good to see Ben get up from that nasty crash and he carried on winning his races for them, and also Luke Ruddick was quite lucky in that one. Everyone rode really well for us.
“The track was a bit tricky with it drying out so fast, but I told the riders to ride wide to pick the grip up, and that helped both Ryan (MacDonald) and Luke Harris in particular.â€
COVENTRY 59: Connor Mountain 13, Jon Armstrong 10+2, Danny Phillips 9+1, Luke Harris 8+2, Luke Ruddick 8+1, Ryan MacDonald 6+2, Jamie Halder 5+1. ISLE OF WIGHT 31: Ben Morley 14, Scott Campos 6, Danno Verge 4+1, Ben Hopwood 4, Shaun Tedham 2, Chris Widman 1+1, Sam Woods 0.
