Wolves roar to Coventry win
Wolves finally got back to winning ways at Monmore Green last night with a 47-43 defeat of Coventry in a superb Elite League Midland derby.
Wolves finally got back to winning ways at Monmore Green last night with a 47-43 defeat of Coventry in a superb Elite League Midland derby.
Nicolai Klindt was the hero of the evening with an amazing 15 points from reserve, which kept the team's hopes alive after they lost Jesper B Monberg in a heat four crash.
Monberg locked up on the fourth turn of his opening ride, with Simon Stead and Klindt unable to avoid crashing into the Dane, with Robbie Kessler only just avoiding them.
Stead came back to win the re-run but was ruled out of the rest of the meeting by the track doctor with a damaged thumb.
Monberg said: "I thought I was in a disco because I saw so many stars. I now feel as if I've been hit by a train."
The Dane is hoping to be fit for Wolves' trip to Ipswich on Thursday.
Klindt was inspirational all evening, inflicting a shock defeat on Grand Prix star Chris Harris in heat seven and chasing hard, after Hans Andersen and Oliver Allen in heat 11 on his way to his highest-ever Wolves score, continuing the form which won him the Danish Under-21 title the day before.
Klindt said: "I felt great even after the crash and my bike felt perfect."
Skipper Freddie Lindgren also played an instrumental role, producing an amazing manoeuvre in heat 10 to slice between Harris and Billy Janniro on the second turn to take the lead.
That was only to slide wide one turn later allowing them back ahead, before re-passing Janniro to take second in one of the races of the year at Monmore.
Lindgren then ended Andersen's hopes of a maximum in heat 13, after the new Coventry number one locked up on the first turn due to a slippery surface caused by a rain shower, causing disarray behind, but somehow everyone stayed on their machines.
Chris Neath was a late replacement for Kenneth Hansen, who was suffering from a virus, and the Rye House regular performed well, even briefly heading Andersen in heat 13.
David Howe and Ales Dryml both continued to struggle for consistent form, with the former gating well but slipping from second to fourth in his opening ride in heat three, with Dryml failing to make progress from the back.
The effect of the club's new riding order, with Monberg and Howe switching places, was not evident following Monberg's withdrawal.
The two sides were never more than two points apart in an incredibly close encounter until Niels Kristian Iversen, enjoying his best run of form so far in 2008, and Howe scored a 5-1 over the Bees reserves in heat nine.
Lindgren and Iversen will represent Wolves in the Elite League Riders' Championship at Birmingham on Wednesday, before the side heads to Ipswich on Thursday and Arena-Essex on Friday to take on the Lakeside Hammers.
