ONLY two-thirds of this Craven Shield second-leg tie were possible due to rain at Brandon, but over the course of those races the Buildbase Bees did enough to put themselves in control of the group.
Despite a three-ride maximum from Ipswich's Robert Miskowiak, Bees were nine points ahead of the Witches on aggregate by the end of the night, with Wolverhampton falling further adrift ahead of the third leg at Monmore Green a week on Monday.
But all of the riders deserve credit for battling away in far from ideal conditions with drizzle swirling around the Brandon circuit throughout the meeting, with procedings running until Heat 12 at which point referee Jim Lawrence called a halt after consultation with the captains.
There had already been an unfortunate delay during Heat 1 because the Witches' Kim Jansson, who had been riding a stormer ahead of Scott Nicholls, suddenly spun and fell heavily on turn three - and Nicholls and Billy Janniro did very well to avoid him. Kevin Doolan may have just clipped Jansson as he took avoiding action, and Jansson was attended to on-track before being taken to hospital for X-rays on back pains - but fortunately, he appears to have escaped with bumps and bruises.
Jansson's fall left Bees in a clear 5-1 position but under the rules, the referee was unable to award the race (something to look at in the winter?) and in the re-run, Doolan managed to split Nicholls and Janniro for a 4-2 to Coventry. A good start from Tobias Kroner then saw him win Heat 2 in convincing fashion ahead of Fredrik Lindgren, with Kroner's team-mate Chris Louis snatching third place from Tommy Allen on the line.
Steve Johnston then shot out of the gate to take Heat 3 with Chris Harris going between William Lawson and Peter Karlsson on lap two as Karlsson slowed with a puncture. But in Heat 4, Ipswich took a 4-2 over the Bees and it took an on-the-line pass from Schlein on Marcin Rempala to prevent a Witches' 5-1.
Ipswich were keeping pace at that stage, but they suffered a blow with a Wolves 5-1 over them in Heat 5 as David Howe gated well and Billy Hamill charged around the outside - and Coventry took advantage in the next race, with Nicholls and Janniro sandwiching Karlsson on the way to the first bend to take Bees' second 5-1 of the night.
A 4-2 over Ipswich followed in Heat 7 with Schlein finding some drive to round Louis off turn two and Smolinski battling his way past countryman Kroner, and the visiting teams then shared Heat 8 as Miskowiak held off Hamill's challenge. The third set of races concluded with another Coventry 5-1 from Harris and Johnston, this time over Fredrik Lindgren, to extend Bees' lead over Ipswich to nine.
Miskowiak again trapped superbly to hold off Nicholls in Heat 10, and Karlsson then made his best start of the two meetings so far to win Heat 11 with Lawson holding off Rempala for the third place.
Smolinski took a fall on the first bend of Heat 12 as he was given no room by a clash of elbows between Hamill and Schlein, and the re-run saw the points shared with Hamill getting away in the early stages and the Bees duo tucking in ahead of Howe.
At that stage, the referee was called to inspect the track and with rain still falling and consideration also given to how difficult it was to see the safety fence, the prudent decision was taken to abandon the meeting... and Bees, with their Craven Shield aspirations still very much intact, now prepare for the big one!
COVENTRY 31 IPSWICH 21 WOLVES 20 Friday 28h September 2007 - Craven Shield Semi-Final 2nd Leg
BUILDBASE BEES Scott Nicholls 3 3 2 = 8 Billy Janniro 1 2* 1* = 4+2 Chris Harris 2* 3 = 5+1 Steve Johnston 3 2* = 5+1 Rory Schlein 2 3 1* = 6+1 Martin Smolinski 0 1 2 = 3
IPSWICH WITCHES Kevin Doolan 2 1 2 = 5 Kim Jansson X = 0 Chris Louis 1 2 = 3 Tobias Kroner 3 0 = 3 Robert Miskowiak 3 3 3 = 9 Marcin Rempala 1 0 0 0 0 = 1
WOLVERHAMPTON Peter Karlsson R 1 3 = 4 William Lawson 1 R 1 = 2 Fredrik Lindgren 2 1 = 3 Tommy Allen 0 0 = 0 Billy Hamill 2* 2 3 = 7+1 David Howe 3 1* 0 = 4+1