Coventry 59 Wolves 33
The second Good Friday away match saw Wolves brought back down to earth by Coventry as they gained revenge for their Monmore defeat on Monday with a 59-33 success at Brandon last night.
The second Good Friday away match saw Wolves brought back down to earth by Coventry as they gained revenge for their Monmore defeat on Monday with a 59-33 success at Brandon last night.
On a track with plenty of grip, the Wolves were continually frustrated by their inability to win the race out of the tapes, with the fine gating form that they had displayed at Belle Vue in the morning seemingly having been left in Manchester.
Coventry were simply too solid as a team, with Oliver Allen's lightning gating and 10-point haul the matchwinner for the Bees, along with ex-Wolf Simon Stead's four-ride maximum.
The main plus points of the evening for the Wolves were the continued good form of Ales Dryml and an upturn for Christian Hefenbrock.
The German was unlucky in heat two as his steel shoe came adrift causing him to fall, with Nicolai Klindt also going down as he took avoiding action – although the home pairing were already well clear by this stage.
There was some controversy in heat three, when Niels Kristian Iversen came down on the last lap after apparently taking contact from Chris Harris.
The Dane remained on the track, and referee Chris Durno did not display the red stop lights until the riders had almost completed the race, with winner Billy Janniro having to take avoiding action to miss Iversen after crossing the line.
David Howe endured a nightmare evening, blowing an engine in heat four and having to complete the meeting on his second bike, and also earning an exclusion when he went through the tapes in heat 13.
The final race saw Freddie Lindgren hit trouble on the second bend, and the Swede was flung from his machine into the air fence in an awkward looking tumble, but thankfully the Wolves skipper was straight back to his feet.
The race was awarded as a 5-1 to the Bees, and some fans thought that this was a fair reflection of the evening as a whole.
Coventry Bees
R Schlein 1-2*-3-1 =7+1
O Allen 3-3-3-1 =10
C Harris 2*-R-3-1*-2* =8+3
B Janniro 3-2-2*-2-3 =12+1
S Stead 3-3-3-3 =12
A Messing 2*-1-0-1* =4+2
S Burza 3-1-0-2 =6
Wolves
F Lindgren 0-1-2-2-FX =5
A Dryml 2-3-4^-1* =10+1
N K Iversen F-2-2-3-1 =8
K Hansen 1-0-0-0 =1
D Howe R-1-1-T =2
N Klindt 0-0-0-0 =0
C Hefenb'k 1-2-1*-0-3 =7+1
Heat details
Ht1: Allen (61.7), Dryml, Schlein, Lindgren. 4-2, 4-2. Ht2: Burza (62.8), Messing, Hefenbrock, Klindt. 5-1, 9-3. Ht3 (re-run): Janniro (62.4), Harris, Hansen, Iversen. 5-1, 14-4. Ht4: Stead (61.9), Hefenbrock, Burza, Howe (ret). 4-2, 18-6. Ht5: Dryml (60.6), Janniro, Lindgren, Harris (ret). 2-4, 20-10. Ht6: Allen (61.9), Schlein, Howe, Klindt. 5-1, 25-11. Ht7: Stead (61.4), Iversen, Messing, Hansen. 4-2, 29-13. Ht8: Allen (61.8), Dryml (double), Hefenbrock, Burza. 3-5, 32-18. Ht9: Harris (60.8), Janniro, Howe, Klindt. 5-1, 37-19. Ht10: Schlein (61.6), Iversen, Allen, Hansen. 4-2, 41-21. Ht11: Stead (61.2), Lindgren, Dryml, Messing. 3-3, 44-24. Ht12: Iversen (61.2), Burza, Harris, Klindt. 3-3, 47-27. Ht13 (re-run): Stead (60.5), Lindgren, Schlein, Hefenbrock, Howe (excl, tapes). 4-2, 51-29. Ht14: Hefenbrock (61.8), Janniro, Messing, Hansen. 3-3, 54-32. Ht15: (awarded): Janniro (no time), Harris, Iversen, Lindgren (fell, excl). 5-1, 59-33.