LEIGH Adams and Matej Zagar were once again almost unstoppable as Swindon completed another double over the Buildbase Bees - their second of the season.
Adams and Zagar had both scored maximums at Brandon last Friday, and dropped just one point between them on this occasion, wrapping up the Robins' win with 5-1s in both Heats 13 and 15 which made the final margin wider than it had been at any previous stage in the meeting.
Indeed, for much of the evening Bees were very much in touch to challenge for at least a point, but racing effectively without their No.1 would have been a big handicap at virtually any Elite League venue, let alone Swindon.
Just as two Peterborough riders had been delayed en route to Blunsdon last week, this time it was Scott Nicholls whose journey was affected by the M25, and he did not arrive at the stadium until shortly after Heat 5 - his second scheduled outing.
Whilst the reserves were always likely to find the going tough, the remaining members of the top five all got stuck into a difficult meeting and came out of it with a fair degree of credit.
Filip Sitera impressed in a number of his rides, starting the night with a comfortable second place ahead of Travis McGowan, not that there was any chance of him ever challenging the imperious Adams up front.
Heat 2 took three attempts to run, the first being pulled back for an unsatisfactory start as the two Coventry riders made it into the first bend in first and second places - clearly too quickly away from the line! In the re-run, guest Richard Lawson made another good start but spun on the second bend, almost being collected by Paul Hurry, and was disqualified with the Robins romping to 5-1 in the return.
The meeting was initially following the pattern of Monday's win at Belle Vue, and Edward Kennett and Rory Schlein kept that going with a fine 5-1 in Heat 3, both getting the better of Fisher on the third and fourth bends after the American had threatened to go between them on the back straight.
Fisher was taking a rider replacement outing for Jurica Pavlic, whose future with the Robins must be in serious doubt after he was handed a 28-day ban for withholding his services.
Zagar had overtaken Chris Harris in blistering style at Brandon last Friday, but Harris returned the compliment at Blunsdon in a terrific Heat 4, stopped initially after Hurry hit the fence on the fourth bend when attempting to re-pass Klaus Jakobsen. In the re-start, Zagar flew away and looked set to win by a distance, but Harris quickly made up ground and switched inside the Slovenian into lap two for a fine win.
With only one Coventry rider able to line up for Heat 5, Fisher and Simon Stead took full advantage to comfortably take a 5-1 over Sitera to put Swindon four points up, and that lead became six as Adams fended off a strong Harris challenge in Heat 6 with McGowan comfortably third.
Zagar was given a tough time by Schlein in the early stages of Heat 7 before Bees settled for a 3-3, and throughout the middle stages of the meeting they worked hard to keep themselves in contention.
Bees were unlucky in Heat 8 when Sitera pulled a fine move off turn two to fire himself past both McGowan and Fisher, only for Fisher to fall at the end of the second lap, and he was unable to clear the track with the fence damaged.
The race could not be awarded with less than two laps completed, and as is normally the way, McGowan made no mistake second time around to head home Sitera for another 3-3.
Harris made a very fast getaway to control Heat 9 ahead of Stead and McGowan and the tenth race was also shared, although there was plenty more racing in this one as Adams had to work his way through the traffic, eventually switching inside Schlein off turn four to take the lead - whilst Kennett, forced out early on, chased McGowan and eventually made it past the Australian towards the end of the third lap.
Nicholls' first appearance in Heat 11 was not a happy one as he was clamped from the inside by Zagar, allowing Hurry to conjure up a remarkable burst around the outside - and as Nicholls and Sitera virtually tripped over one another for two laps, Hurry pulled clear and had enough in hand to repel Nicholls in the closing stages.
That meant a tactical ride for the Bees in Heat 12 and Kennett completed a solid night's work with a six-pointer, blasting around Stead and Fisher in a move similar to that made by Hurry, to leave the visitors seven-down with three races to go.
Unfortunately two of those were set to feature the Robins' top two, and Adams and Zagar duly made it into the first bend ahead of the Coventry pairing in Heat 13 and team-rode their way to maximum points to the delight of a large Blunsdon crowd.
Still Bees did all they could to rescue a point, their commitment summed up by Schlein's first lap in Heat 14 which saw him make his way inside both Stead and Fisher in a fine ride - but with the Robins comfortably ahead of Jakobsen, only a 5-0 in Heat 15 would have been enough to cut the gap back to six points.
In fact, the race went the other way with Zagar again showing how suited he is to the Swindon circuit - could he be the heir apparent to Adams? - and there was more team-riding between the Robins duo, with Zagar then shutting off over the line to allow Adams to take the flag.
It had been an entertaining meeting on a hot night, and several aspects of the Coventry performance couldn't be faulted, but they effectively started the meeting handicapped, and that was always likely to be too much to overcome.
SWINDON 54 Leigh Adams 3 3 3 2* 3 = 14+1 Travis McGowan 1 1 3 1* 0 = 6+1 Simon Stead 1 3 2 2 2 = 10 Jurica Pavlic Rider Replacement Matej Zagar 2 3 3 3 2* = 13+1 Paul Hurry 2* X R 2* = 4+2 Ryan Fisher 3 R 2* X 1* 1* = 7+3
BUILDBASE BEES 39 Scott Nicholls N 1 1 = 2 Filip Sitera 2 1 2 0 = 5 Edward Kennett 2* 2 1* 6^ = 11+2 Rory Schlein 3 1* 2 3 0 = 9+1 Chris Harris 3 2 3 0 1 = 9 Richard Lawson X 0 0 0 = 0 Klaus Jakobsen 0 1 1 1* 0 = 3+1
