THE Buildbase Bees produced the ideal response to Friday's home defeat by securing their second four-point away haul of the season to move back into the play-off places.
Captain Chris Harris led the way with a terrific 15-point maximum but this was an all-round team effort with all seven riders contributing.
Harris was well backed by the other members of the Bees' top four, whilst the lower-order worked hard throughout the meeting to take points off the far more experienced Belle Vue reserves.
Bees' main concern at the start of the night had been the presence of former Aces heat-leader Charlie Gjedde in the No.7 race-jacket - but after winning Heat 2, the Dane had a disastrous night and failed to score again.
Bees may well have expected to find themselves behind in the early stages, but after going 9-3 down they then got things together in impressive style to take the remaining 13 races by a 50-27 scoreline, with eleven race winners.
Harris won five out of five, whilst Scott Nicholls, Rory Schlein and Edward Kennett took two wins apiece with the Schlein/Kennett combination once again proving profitable, and only being defeated by Krzysztof Kasprzak, who was by far the Aces' top rider.
Kasprzak gated well to win the opening race ahead of Nicholls and James Wright, but although the home side followed that with a 5-1 from Gjedde and Kevin Doolan in Heat 2, there were already encouraging signs for Coventry as the Aces pairing were chased all the way to the finishing line by Josh Auty and Ricky Wells, both of whom put that experience to good use later in the meeting.
Before that, Bees immediately got back into contention with maximum points from Schlein and Kennett in Heat 3 with some good team-riding over the first couple of laps to see off Ulrich Ostergaard and Patrick Hougaard.
And they could have levelled the scores at least in Heat 4 with Auty holding third place over Morten Risager, and then moving into second when Gjedde's machine faltered coming off turn four. Unfortunately, Auty himself hit trouble half a lap later, and that handed Risager second place behind Harris in a race of only two finishers.
But Bees did go in front in Heat 5 with a rapid Nicholls start taking him clear, and although Filip Sitera was overhauled on the back straight by Hougaard, he comfortably kept Ostergaard at bay for third place.
Harris gated on and clamped Kasprzak in the early stages of Heat 6 for his second win, with Wells losing out to James Wright for third into turn three - but that was a move Wells would learn from and use to his own advantage later on.
The Bees' strongest pairing again notched a 5-1 in Heat 7 to move their side five points clear, with Schlein taking Doolan wide on turn one, and an error from Risager sent himself wide which left the way clear for Schlein and Kennett to emerge from the second bend in front.
The Aces urgently needed maximum points from a Heat 8 which appeared to strongly favour them on paper, but although Wright and Gjedde both made good starts Sitera rode an excellent first lap to round Gjedde, who lost his steel shoe on the back straight. That effectively limited his challenge to the outside, and with Sitera defending well Gjedde made a mistake at the start of the last lap, gratefully accepted by Auty, and Bees had come through with a highly satisfactory 3-3.
And their position became even healthier in Heat 9, which Harris dominated from tapes to flag with Wells picking up a well-deserved point by moving inside Ostergaard on the third lap of lap two and then comfortably holding his position.
Heat 10 produced the main controversy of the night, as the race was re-started on two occasions as Schlein and Kasprzak contested the early stages. At the first attempt, Kasprzak was sent wide but lost control much further round the bend, hit the fence and fell, and was fortunate to be invited back to an all-four re-run.
The second staging looked a more straightforward decision as the two riders clashed going into the bend, although Kasprzak had already come to a stop before the red lights came on - but credit to the Pole because he made a superb getaway at the third time of asking, and led Schlein home with Kennett initially left no room on the first bend and eventually recovering to take third place from Wright.
Nicholls took control of Heat 11 with Sitera suffering mechanical trouble, but if the Aces were to make a comeback it looked like it would need to come in Heat 12 - which in fact went Bees' way as Kennett completed a solid, impressive display by putting himself in all the right places to see off Hougaard on the first lap, whilst Wells again showed his racing ability by moving inside the unhappy Gjedde on the second lap and then pulling clear in third place.
Bees therefore led by nine and were within sight of victory, and Harris then produced the ride of the night in Heat 13 after being beaten to the first bend by Kasprzak. Initially, Harris and Nicholls were virtually side-by-side as they challenged the Aces' No.1, but Harris then took over and after trying on the inside, he switched for the outside going into the last lap, got alongside and then above his opponent, and then classily held the advantage coming out of turn two as both riders went wide.
That put Bees eleven clear, leaving Belle Vue looking for a rather unlikely 8-1 and 5-1 from the last two races to force a draw - but it still seemed a little surprising that it was Ostergaard who was nominated for double points in Heat 14, rather than the more impressive Doolan.
As it was, neither had any answer for Schlein and it turned into the Auty show behind, as he first came inside Ostergaard to ensure the tactical ride would score double zero - and he then made an outside move on Doolan off turn four, with the Belle Vue man possibly thinking it had been his team-mate coming around to score double, and snatched second place on the line.
With the points safe, it was just the issue of Harris's maximum to be concluded in Heat 15, and the Bees skipper made no mistake to lead all the way ahead of some good racing for second place with Kasprzak showing real determination to get past Schlein on the third lap, and then chase Harris to the flag.
The 17-point margin of victory in Coventry's favour was highly convincing, and underlines the unpredictability of the Elite League, because this was night and day from the performances in the previous three fixtures. The Aces clearly had their problems, but the Bees were better from top to bottom, and it was a result which helps to put things very much back on course.
BELLE VUE 36 Krzysztof Kasprzak 3 2 3 2 2 = 12 James Wright 1 1* 3 0 = 5+1 Patrick Hougaard 0 2 2 2 0 = 6 Ulrich Ostergaard 1 0 0 0^ = 1 Morten Risager 2 1 1* 0 = 4+1 Kevin Doolan 2* 0 2 1 = 5+1 Charlie Gjedde 3 R 0 0 = 3
