FORMER Bees star Andreas Jonsson made another hugely successful return to Brandon as the Lakeside Hammers remained in touch ahead of the second leg of this Knockout Cup semi-final.
With an eleven point lead from the first leg, Coventry will still feel confident that they can get the job done at Purfleet, but this meeting was some way away from the 67-25 and 58-34 hammerings of the same opponents earlier in the season.
Part of that was down to a series of problems throughout the night for the Buildbase Bees, and they will be somewhat relieved that those problems occurred in this fixture rather than in the title decider against Swindon. And the other reason for the scoreline was Jonsson, who put on arguably the best display of the season by a visiting rider, showing absolute mastery of his old home circuit.
In between Jonsson's rides, Bees gradually eked out a reasonable cushion, and but for a couple of slices of bad luck they could have been taking a margin of 15-19 points to Purfleet, but they will still feel that eleven should be enough if all goes to plan on Saturday.
Jonsson opened up proceedings with a strong win over Scott Nicholls in Heat 1, taking the Buildbase Bees skipper wide on turn two and then repelling Nicholls' cutback as his partner Andreas Messing rode a good race to hold off Billy Janniro for third place.
Ricky Kling then shot out of the start to win Heat 2 ahead of Janniro, with Martin Smolinski snatching third on the line from Messing to prevent a second Hammers 4-2, and Bees promptly levelled the match in Heat 3 as Harris took the win, surging around guest Simon Stead on the first couple of bends, with Steve Johnston in third spot.
Stead was guesting for an apparently injured Krzysztof Kasprzak, and one can only hope that the Pole is fit for the second leg of the Extraleague play-off final between Torun and Leszno on Sunday.
Bees went in front for the first time in Heat 4 thanks to some good team riding between Rory Schlein and Smolinski, with Adam Shields generating plenty of speed around the first couple of bends but just not quite being able to hold it on turn three. The 5-1 gave Bees a 14-10 advantage, but the Hammers gained two points back in Heat 5 when Jonsson out-trapped Harris and Johnston fell on the second bend when he was looking to get around the outside of Leigh Lanham.
Nicholls was outgated by Shields in Heat 6 but made an intelligent cutback to take the win, with Smolinski in third place, but Heat 7 was shared to keep the Hammers just four points down, as Stead made his best start of the night and established a clear lead over Schlein and Janniro.
Bees looked set for another 5-1 in Heat 8 which again featured Shields chasing Schlein and Smolinski, but on the last lap Shields finally found enough speed to come alongside Smolinski up the back straight and head him into the bend. As Smolinski tried to respond, he clipped his opponent and then fell, Shields continuing unaffected for second and Messing inheriting third place.
Bees finally began to extend their lead in Heat 9 with a 4-2, Johnston doing well to control his machine on the last lap when he went a little wide whilst challenging Shields, and there was then a good 5-1 from Nicholls and Smolinski in Heat 10 with Stead unable to repeat his fast start of his previous ride.
That brought out Jonsson on a tactical ride in Heat 11 with the Hammers ten points down, and the Swede came up with the goods even though he was clearly outgated by Schlein. Into the third bend, Jonsson appeared to have his hands full with holding off Janniro, but he picked up huge speed on the inside and simply drove underneath a surprised Schlein before pulling clear for a big helping of six points for the Hammers.
Bees hit back immediately in Heat 12, although Harris was by now on Janniro's bike after blowing his own best machine. He still made a good start, and was joined on a 5-1 by a good ride from Smolinski, who found some inside drive exiting turn two to move past Stead on the second lap.
Heat 13 produced a repeat performance to Heat 11 as Schlein again headed Jonsson for just under a lap only for Jonsson to again turn on the speed and the style to move through on the inside - and with their lead pegged at eleven, Bees were hopeful of extending it in Heat 14. The race was re-run twice due to unsatisfactory starts, and with the riders returning to the gate each time the extra starts became significant when, with Bees sitting on a comfortable 5-1, Johnston's bike suddenly expired on the third lap - out of fuel.
That was a bonus for the Hammers, who were always going to be happy with a share of the points in Heat 15, which was exactly what they got thanks to the most perfect of starts from Jonsson off gate 2, to give him clear daylight over Nicholls and Schlein going into the first bend. Eleven points certainly sets things up well going into the second leg - and although Bees are confident, they know they have more work to do to win the tie.
COVENTRY 52 ARENA ESSEX-LAKESIDE 41 Friday 5th October 2007 - Elite League KO Cup semi-final 1st leg
BUILDBASE BEES Scott Nicholls 2 3 3 1* 2 = 11+1 Olly Allen R/R Chris Harris 3 2 3 3 = 11 Steve Johnston 1 0 1 R = 2 Rory Schlein 3 2 3 2 2 1* = 13+1 Billy Janniro 0 2 1* 1* 3 = 7+2 Martin Smolinski 1* 2* 1 F 2* 2* = 8+4