IT may have been the first meeting of the season - but Heat 13 of this Challenge match at Monmore Green may well end up being voted the best of the entire campaign.
The Buildbase Bees dropped to an eleven-point defeat on a night typical in many ways of what should be expected in the first competitive action of the season, but skipper Chris Harris's minute of magic en route to a fourth straight win ensured that the year still got underway with a bang.
For the first time in the meeting, Harris missed the start, and in fact it was his team-mate Rory Schlein who took the lead going into the third bend, only for the Australian to go wide with Peter Karlsson and Fredrik Lindgren taking first and second places.
Harris engaged in battle with Lindgren, and after almost slicing between the home men on the second lap, he then did manage to pull off a remarkable double-overtake on the back straight next time around.
But it wasn't over there as Harris's speed took him rather too fast into the third bend, and Lindgren took advantage to switch back inside him down the main straight. Harris, however, read that and re-passed the Swede on the exit of turn two, only for Karlsson to then come back into the battle and be beaten by the Bees captain in a desperate charge for the line.
It was a race which had to be appreciated by all present, one in which all four riders led at one stage or another, and it was actually quite easy to forget that it was the race which saw Wolves clinch victory on the night!
The much-changed home side were impressively solid with Karlsson returning as if he had never been away, the middle-order contributing wins and paid wins, and Ty Proctor being the outstanding reserve in the meeting.
Bees were less consistent down the order, although not too much can generally be read into an away challenge match on opening-night. Certainly, Schlein had the pace that wasn't reflected in his score, and aside from Harris's excellence, new signing Edward Kennett scored well-merited double-figures on his debut.
Ben Barker got off to a bad start when he fell on the inside on the second bend in Heat 1 when contesting the turn with Karlsson as Harris swept across from the outside to win in an impressively fast time.
But there was a tidy ride from Jordan Frampton on his first visit to Monmore to defeat Hynek Stichauer for second place behind Proctor, as Joel Parsons took the first of three falls at the end of the third lap.
Heat 3 saw Olly Allen make a trademark fast start and briefly be joined up-front by Kennett, only for Adam Skornicki to bundle his way between the Bees pairing and prevent a 5-1 - Allen holding on well in a good battle over the last couple of laps.
The first major blow was struck in Heat 4 when Proctor took advantage of Schlein going wide on the fourth bend and shot through to partner Lindgren to the first 5-1 of the meeting, and Harris's second win was balanced by Skornicki and Tai Woffinden splitting the points in the next.
Schlein led Karlsson briefly in Heat 6 but was overhauled at the end of the first lap, and at roughly the same time Nicolai Klindt managed to move inside Frampton for third place as the home side extended their lead to six points.
Lindgren made a good start in Heat 7 to head Allen and Kennett, but the chase made by Kennett certainly gave the Wolves man plenty to think about, and there wasn't too much in it at the end as Kennett tried a final outside surge off the last bend.
Bees may well have expected to concede points in Heat 8, and although they did so Barker managed to get his season off and running at the third attempt by making a good exit from turn two to come around Proctor. Off the outside gate, there was no great surprise that Klindt was the convincing race-winner in a time bettered only by Harris's earlier efforts.
Heat 9 was where the match really began to get away - and had it been an Elite League match, Bees would have felt extremely hard done-to. Schlein shot away from the inside and Parsons, too, cut back neatly on the first bend as Skornicki over-slid and came down on his own, forcing Woffinden off too as he took avoiding action.
It seemed generous in the extreme that Skornicki was invited back for the re-start, and the first law of speedway was clearly still in existence in the re-run as the team benefiting from the stoppage took maximum advantage at the second attempt, with Skornicki and Woffinden the more alert to the fastest raising of the tapes all evening.
There were mildly farcical scenes prior to Heat 10 with several incidents combining as the two-minute clock ticked down. As Allen struggled to make the time allowance, Stichauer appeared on the circuit to make it three Wolves riders with Karlsson and Klindt, left the track and then re-appeared in a different helmet colour!
When order was restored, Allen and Kennett both made good starts only for Karlsson to revisit his favourite corridor off turn two and go from third to first in majestic style, then holding off another enthusiastic challenge from Kennett.
With the Wolves lead up at twelve points, Harris took a tactical ride for the Bees in Heat 11 and just made the first bend ahead of Lindgren, clamping his opponent next time around and then racing away for his third win of the night.
But Bees' hopes of a win were virtually over after Heat 12 when Proctor managed to ease Allen out on the run to the first bend, and was then team-ridden home by an apparently effortless Woffinden, the race being stopped half-a-lap short as Frampton had come to grief on the third bend.
Then came the spectacular Heat 13 which left the scores at 46-35 with two heats to go, and Kennett gained a fully deserved win in the next after being given a tough battle by Skornicki, with Parsons' efforts to move Stichauer aside ending in his third fall of the night.
The only remaining question was whether Harris could complete his maximum, but Karlsson was to have the final say by taking the lead from Kennett on turn four and dominating thereafter as Kennett and Harris worked hard to keep Lindgren at the back.
So eleven points is the final margin for Bees to pull back at Brandon on Friday, and hopefully the first fifteen heats of the season will prove to have been a useful exercise over the weeks to come.
