Adam Skornicki's own worst enemy

Wolves 51 Coventry 43

Adam Skornicki didn't put a foot wrong at Monmore - until he did that doughnut.

The Polish entertainer was at his scintillating best, as Wolves initially dominated last night's Knockout Cup tie and looked like building a big lead for the quarter-final second leg next month.

But Skornicki, ever the showman, responded to crowd demands for his trademark "doughnut" after heat five - and fell off.

The slow motion topple provoked laughter among the crowd, as did Skornicki's vehement shake of the head after his third victory when invited to repeat the demonstration.

What only emerged later was that the rider, who missed the start of the season while recuperating from a knee ligament operation, had banged the limb and was in severe pain.

Somehow the 33-year-old dragged himself to a fourth win in heat 12, when taking the rider-replacement outing for the injured Nicolai Klindt.

At that point, all seemed set fair for Wolves. They were 14 points up, Skornicki and skipper Tai Woffinden had beaten off the double-point tactical rides of Chris Harris and Krzysztof Kasprzak respectively and the semi-final appeared to beckon.

But Kasprzak, who picked up as the track slicked off, took heat 13 from home ace Fredrik Lindgren with Harris slipping inside Woffinden to trim the deficit to 12.

The penultimate heat produced a huge swing as Skornicki, lying fourth, retired in pain.

Gritty reserve Matt Wethers somehow kept the Bees pair of Edward Kennett and Przemyslaw Pawlicki behind him for more than half the race, but eventually they forced him into an error and passed for a 5-1 which raised morale in the visiting pits.

It nearly got even worse for the home team in the final race as Kasprzak headed the elder Lindgren, Harris again nipping past Woffinden on the inside.

But Lindgren responded, powering inside the Polish star to win the heat and maintain Wolves' lead in the tie at a finely balanced eight points.

Harris is generally felt by Bees fans to have the 'wood' on Lindgren at Monmore - but may have reckoned without the Swede's little brother.

Ludvig got a good start alongside Woffinden in heat four helped by the unfortunate Pawlicki, on his first visit to the track, inadvertently taking his captain's line on the opening bend and almost bringing Harris to a juddering halt.

Woffinden's vigilant patrol of the outside run then left the younger Lindgren to hug the kerb and, despite the repeated probing of Harris, the 19-year-old clung on to claim a celebrated scalp.

He held third from Kasprzak for much of the very next race too - what a double that would have been - but the Coventry rider rounded him to claim the point.

But Ludvig played a full role in the heat eight, 5-1 with the ever impressive Ty Proctor that put Wolves firmly in the pound seats.

Kudos here to the enigmatic Lewis Bridger, who buried his bike into the third bend air fence but, with team-mate Pawlicki only third, wrestled it free and rejoined the chase rather than stay prone.

If that was a scary moment then heat 10 was positively terrifying, with all four riders in perfect line abreast as they hurtled down the back straight into bend three.

The Bees pair blinked first - there was surely no way all four would have got round - but Ben Barker, to his credit, still managed to pick off Proctor for second place behind Fredrik Lindgren.

Wolves have the advantage, but the Bees may yet sting in the return.

By Tim Hamblin