Coventry Bees joint top of Elite League table after Leicester win - The Coventry Observer

Coventry Bees joint top of Elite League table after Leicester win

Coventry Editorial 22nd Jun, 2015 Updated: 28th Oct, 2016   0

BEES secured their third victory of the season against Leicester with a 51-39 win at Brandon Stadium on Friday night, writes Robin Allen.

The home side made a terrible after Leicester claimed a 5-1 victory in the opening race which put Bees on the back-foot straight away.

Fast-track reserve Jason Garrity then teamed up with Josh Bates, who came in as a guest for the injured James Sarjeant, to great effect with a 5-1, putting the scores level at 6-6.

Leicester then responded with yet another 5-1 in heat three but in-form Danny King came to the rescue for the hosts when he partnered Bates to an easy maximum heat advantage in heat four to level the scores again.




The visitors then showed their worth with three straight race victories, but could not make an impact on the scoreline with three riders failing to score to the relief of the Bees’ management.

And after King broke the run of Lions race wins in heat 8, Bees started to put their stamp on the meeting with Stuart Robson and Garrity easing home for 5-1 in the following race, putting them four points up.


In heat ten, Bees captain Chris Harris had a great battle for first place with Jason Doyle until Harris’s chain snapped on the fourth turn which handed the Lions a 4-2 advantage cutting the lead to two points.

Bees fast-track pairing of Garrity and Bates took the lead up to six points in heat 12 with another excellent 5-1 over Lions guests Oliver Greenwood and Richard Hall.

And with a shared heat in the following race the meeting looked in the balance with Leicester having two riders on a maximum with two races left.

But Bees got a huge stroke of luck in heat 14 when Grzegorz Walasek’s bike packed up while he was leading which handed the home-side a 5-1 and victory on the night.

And in the final race Joonas Kylmakorpi got his second straight win while Robson had a great battle with Doyle for third, with the pair passing and re-passing each other and it was the Bees man who came out on top.

“The really encouraging thing actually was that our top two riders scored four points each and we still won, and I’m taking the positives out of that,” said Bees promoter Mick Horton.

“Josh Bates did a marvellous job for us, and filled in for Sarjeant really well, so we take the three points from it and move on.

“Full credit to Leicester, they put on a really good show, and there was definitely some good racing so hopefully everyone enjoyed the meeting. We’re back to joint-top and I’m sure it will go down to the wire.”

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