COVENTRY’S play-off charge gathered pace with a blistering 56-36 win at Belle Vue on Monday – moving the Buildbase Bees up to third in the Elite League table.
Reserve sensation Jason Garrity reeled off four wins out of four for a 12-point maximum, and a terrific all-round effort from the rest of the team saw them record their sixth win of the season on the road by an impressive 20-point margin.
Garrity and James Sarjeant dominated in the lower-order, with Garrity also taking the scalp of Aces’ top-five men Richie Worrall and Michael Palm Toft, whilst Max Fricke proved to be a brilliant stand-in for the injured Ben Barker.
The teenage Australian was twice involved as Bees negated Belle Vue’s tactical rides, first by holding a perfect line to defeat Scott Nicholls in Heat 8 and then ensuring that home No.1 Matej Zagar was sensationally relegated to the back in Heat 10.
Fricke defeated Nicholls and Zagar twice, and Craig Cook once, as the strong Belle Vue heat-leader trio felt the force of a remarkable Bees display on an excellent racing circuit.
At the top of the order, skipper Chris Harris dropped just two points whilst Hans Andersen added paid-12 in another display of determined riding.
There were battling rides, too, from Kyle Howarth and Kenneth Hansen, with the latter looking sharper than in recent meetings and unfortunate not to score more.
Bees took the lead in Heat 2 with a convincing 5-1 from their reserves, and Howarth’s dive inside Richie Worrall on the fourth bend of Heat 4 helped put the visitors four points to the good.
They then made good use of a run of races where they had the favourable gate 4, and Fricke’s win over Zagar in Heat 5 was backed up by a third place for Hansen over Craig Cook after the Bees had initially gated on a 5-1.
Andersen and Harris did bank maximum points in Heat 6, Harris cleverly switching back on turn one to get past Worrall, and another 5-1 could have followed in the next only for Palm Toft to split Garrity and Hansen.
Bees were 12-points up and they only lost two of that margin as Fricke held Nicholls at bay when the Aces skipper went for the double, and then Garrity and Sarjeant produced a well-worked first bend for another 5-1 in Heat 9, this time coming from gates 1 and 3.
Belle Vue’s second tactical ride went disastrously wrong as Zagar was incredibly left at the back in Heat 10, Fricke playing the role of spoiler as Harris raced clear, and with Bees 39-23 up the match was all-but won.
The Aces grabbed a 4-2 from Heat 11 with Nicholls winning from the outside, and a brilliant ride by Palm Toft to pass Howarth in the next was cancelled out by Sarjeant’s last-bend blast to edge out Nathan Greaves.
Zagar took Heat 13 but Cook was blocked out by Andersen for the second time in three races, leaving Bees 14-up – and maximum points were secured when the fast-starting Garrity took charge of Heat 14 with Hansen supplying third place.
But the extent of Coventry’s dominance was confirmed in Heat 15 when Andersen and Harris combined to squeeze out Zagar, Andersen making it around the narrowest of gaps on turn two to join his team-mate for a 5-1.
The irony of the evening was that the result was achieved without manager Gary Havelock – who broke down en route, with regular Storm boss Laurence Rogers taking charge.
Coventry promoter Mick Horton said: “It was an absolutely fantastic win, and I’m a happy promoter. It was a great night and when the boys are on fire like that, we’re a match for anyone.
“We’ve got to keep the focus and not get carried away, but what a response that was from last night (at Leicester) – I couldn’t have asked for better than that.
“All credit to the track curator here, the boys all said how good the track was, and the result certainly proves again that we can go to away tracks and perform.â€
BELLE VUE 36: Matej Zagar 9, Michael Palm Toft 8, Scott Nicholls 8, Richie Worrall 5+1, Craig Cook 4, Nathan Greaves 2, Lee Payne 0. COVENTRY 56: Chris Harris 12+1, Jason Garrity 12, Hans Andersen 10+2, Max Fricke 8+1, James Sarjeant 6+3, Kyle Howarth 5, Kenneth Hansen 3. Elite League points: Belle Vue 0 Coventry 4