Wolverhampton Wolves edged out in thriller at Swindon

They missed out on victory in a last heat decider but fought back from 10 behind to secure a consolation league point.

Wolves found themselves eight points down with four races gone after conceding two early 5-1s. Freddie Lindgren and guest Danny King were out-gated in the first and couldn’t find a way past Swindon guest No.1 Troy Batchelor and Adam Ellis.

Consecutive shared heats followed, with Wolves guest reserve Paul Starke taking the chequered flag in the second. But when Sam Masters was forced to take avoiding action in bend one in the fourth, there was little else he could do but watch the Swindon pairing pull clear.

The visitors responded well though as Lindgren and King brushed up on their starting this time around to get themselves ahead and hold on for a 5-1 of their own. The deficit was reduced to just two points after the seventh, with Jacob Thorssell hitting the front from gate three, but Rory Schlein was unable to snake his way past last minute replacement guest Brady Kurtz.

But in two heats where, on paper, Wolverhampton arguably looked stronger, they would suffer severe disappointment as they conceded back-to-back 5-1s.

Again, guest duo King and Starke were punished for missing the gate in the eighth before Masters missed out on the opening bends in heat nine.

Ten points down, Wolves boss Peter Adams nominated Thorssell for double points while the option was available. They say hindsight is a wonderful thing and so it proved as it was actually Schlein who made the gate and drifted Batchelor to the fence, while Thorssell was put under severe pressure by Ellis early on who crept his way past, forcing them to settle for a 5-2.

Two more 3-3s followed leaving the scores at 42-37 with two to go. But drama struck in the penultimate race that needed four attempts to complete. Two unsatisfactory starts were the first causes of stoppage before Thorssell led the third.

While Greaves temporarily held second, he soon found himself fighting to hold on for third. Wilson-Dean charged under Greaves on bend three of lap two, but there didn’t appear to be much contact as the Wolves reserve came down – but it was the home rider who was thrown out of the re-run. At the fourth time of asking, Wolves sat on a 5-1 before Greaves slid off while in second on bend two.

Wolves needed a 5-1 to snatch a last-gasp win and, while Thorssell pulled off an excellent ride to cut under Batchelor, Lindgren was unable to find his way through as they missed out by a solitary point.