Good evening and welcome to sunny Dorset for live coverage of tonight’s challenge series fixture between the Coventry Bees and Poole Pirates.
Tonight’s fixture is the second ‘challenge series’ Coventry are taking part in. The first of 15 heats is due to start at 7.30pm.
You can follow the action live here. Click refresh for regular heat by heat updates.
RESULT: Coventry Bees 38-52 Poole Pirates.
Heat 15 – Hans Andersen takes the win. Second place goes to Chris Harris while Brady Kurtz and Danny King battle over third place. Kurtz gets it.
Heat 14 – Poole have won tonight’s meeting. They cannot be caught. Brady Kurtz wins again – a full maximum for him. Nicolai Klindt follows him home in second. Pirates now lead by 12 points with one race to go. Bees riders LasseBjerre and Josh Bates third and fourth.
Bees 36-48 Pirates.
Heat 13 – Danny King will never make a better start in his life. King leads, but Hans Andersen ruthlessly forces his way up the inside of King heading into turn one of lap two – a superb pass. King rides the fence and stays on. He takes second place. Third goes to Chris Harris. Kasprzak stopped after the second turn.
Coventry 35-43 Pirates.
Heat 12 – Heat win for Lewis Kerr. Bees starting to drop vital points now. Jason Garrity hangs on for second place while under plenty of pressure from James Shanes. James Sarjeant in fourth. Bees facing an uphill challenge if they’re to win away from home now.
Bees 32-40 Pirates.
Heat 11 – Bees fall further behind here in Dorset. Hans Andersen takes the flag. Stefan Nielsen does well to earn second. Nicolai Klindt battles with Danny King throughout the four laps fr third place. Klindt coming out on top.
Bees 30-36 Pirates.
Heat 10 – A gutsy Bees ride from Lasse Bjerre to win heat ten! Jack Holder riding 5mph faster than Bjerre. Incredibly Bjerre hangs on and forces Holder wide on the final turn to pull off a heroic victory. One for the highlights reel!
Bees 28-32 Pirates.
Heat 9 – Three wins out of three for talented Australian Brady Kurtz who wins heat nine. Unchallenged once he pulled clear of Chris Harris in second. Lewis Keer third and James Sarjeant at the back.
Bees 25-29 Pirates.
Heat 8 – Re run. Both Bees riders crash in the first turn. All four back for the re-start.
Jack Holder does the business in the re-run. Josh Bates initially leads but Holder does well to get the better of the British Under 21 Champion. Third place was Stefan Nielson.
Bees 23-25 Pirates.
Heat 7 – Terrific race! Bees gate on a 4-2 but soon find themselves on a 5-1 when Jason Garrity rounds Hans Andersen at the end of the first lap. Andersen then returns the favour the following lap and holds second. First heat advantage for the Bees.
Bees 20-22 Pirates.
Heat 6 – Krzysztof Kasprzak wins from the gate. Harris in second under pressure by Jack Holder. Simple race. James Sarjeant fourth.
Bees 16-20 Pirates.
Heat 5 – Re-run. Drama in heat five. Danny King overtakes Lewis Kerr convincingly. Kerr then spins and smashes into the air fence at high speed – almost forcing his body over the safety fence. Nasty crash. He’s up okay and has been excluded from the race for causing s stoppage. Re run to come.
In the re-run Brady Kurtz wins convincingly after going full throttle around the outside of King and Nielson who were stuck on the inside line.
Bees 14-16 Pirates.
Heat 4 – Disaster for Bees rider Chris Harris at the start. His machine fails him and doesn’t move when the tapes rise. Josh Bates does his job though and fends off former Grand Prix star Hans Andersen to win. James Shanes third.
Coventry 11-13 Pirates. Now a break for track grading so the shale can be returned to the racing line.
Heat 3 – Drama in heat three. Brady Kurtz wins from the gate. Coventry’s Jason Garrity storms underneath Poole’s Lewis Keer entering turn one of lap two. With yards to go Kerr then loses control of his machine and crashes on the three. He’s up okay. Lasse Bjerre comes through to take third. Let off for Bees.
Bees 8-10 Pirates.
Heat 2 – Pirates take the lead here in Dorset. Nicolai Klindt wins from the tapes. He’s followed by James Sarjeant who chased all the way while James Shanes came third. Josh Bates last.
Bees 5-7 Pirates.
HEAT 1 – Riders coming out onto the track for heat 1. The opening race sees Polish superstar Krzysztof Kasprzak and Jack Holder for Poole. Bees have British Champion Danny King and Stefan Nielson.
A super win for Danny King from the gate. Jack Holder settled in second, he was guided around by Krzysztof Kasprzak. Nielson last. Bees 3-3 Pirates.
7.35pm – Slight delay to proceedings but the parade is now underway. Riders are being introduced before completing their pre-race laps and then the racing will start!
if you’re new to speedway tonight’s match sees Coventry and Poole race in 15 heats. Each heat contains four riders – two from each side. The inner of each race earns 3 points, second place 2pts and third place 1pt. Last earns you no points.
All the points are added as the racing goes on. Speedway bikes have no brakes and accelerate faster than a Formula One car – making it one of the rawest forms of motorsport.
7.23pm – Just ten minutes until the first race here in Dorset. A sizeable crowd for a challenge fixture. Bees fans gathered on turns one and two. Coin toss coming up.
POOLE: Krzysztof Kasprzak, Jack Holder, Lewis Kerr, Brady Kurtz, Hans Andersen, Nicolai Klindt, James Shanes.
COVENTRY: Danny King, Stefan Nielsen, Jason Garrity, Lasse Bjerre, Chris Harris, James Sarjeant, Josh Bates.
