COVENTRY 51 OXFORD 39
COVENTRY: OXFORD:
G.Hancock 2 3 3 2'2 12(1) T.Wiltshire 3 3 0 3 1 3 13
A.Jonsson 1'1 3 2' 7(2) J.Staechmann E R 2 2'1 5(1)
B.Andersen 2 2 2'3 1' 10(2) C.Boyce 3 3 0 3 2 0 11
St.Robson 1'1'3 2 7(2) S.Johnston R 1 1 2
R.Correy 3 2 0 3 8 P.Hurry 1 2 1 1' 5(1)
Sc.Robson 0 0 1 0 1 L.Hare 2 0 0 2
S.Tacey 3 2'1 0 6(1) A.Rossiter 1'X R 1(1)
HEAT DETAILS:
Ht 1:Wiltshire, Hancock, Jonsson, Staechmann, 61.0 3-3 3-3
Ht 2:Tacey, Hare, Rossiter, Sc.Robson, 63.6 3-3 6-6
Ht 3:Boyce, Andersen, St.Robson, Johnston(ret), 61.5 3-3 9-9
Ht 4:Correy, Tacey, Hurry, Rossiter(f,exc), 61.7 5-1 14-10
Ht 5:Wiltshire, Andersen, St.Robson, Steachmann(ret), 60.9 3-3 17-13
Ht 6:Hancock, Hurry, Jonsson, Hare, 61.3 4-2 21-15
Ht 7:Boyce, Correy, Johnston, Sc.Robson, 61.7 2-4 23-19
Ht 8:Jonsson, Steachmann, Tacey, Rossiter(ret), 60.8 4-2 27-21
Ht 9:St.Robson, Andersen, Hurry, Wiltshire, 61.3 5-1 32-22
Ht10:Hancock, Jonsson, Johnston, Boyce, 61.4 5-1 37-23
Ht11:Wiltshire, Steachmann Sc.Robson, Correy, 62.1 1-5 38-28
Ht12:Andersen, Boyce, Hurry, Tacey, 61.8 3-3 41-31
Ht13:Correy, Hancock, Wiltshire, Hare, 61.7 5-1 46-32
Ht14:Boyce, St.Robson, Steachmann, Sc.Robson, 62.4 2-4 48-36
Ht15:Wiltshire, Hancock, Andersen, Boyce, 93.0 3-3 51-39
BEES KEPT ALIVE THEIR FAINT title hopes by completing their double demolition of Oxford with a repeat score of their win at Cowley. Again, it was achieved with a good, solid team performance against an Oxford outfit who bore all the signs of a disjointed team lacking in spirit - and that bodes well for Coventry's Craven Shield semi final meeting with the Cheetahs.
In reality, 39 points flattered the visitors, who, apart from some lightning gating from Todd Wiltshire and a lively performance from Craig Boyce, had very little to offer. Jan Steachmann picked up some points later on, but the rest of the team were very disappointing, and are certainly not the outfit of earlier in the season.
Wiltshire out-trapped Greg Hancock to win Heat 1 from the gate, and Andreas Jonsson had no need to fight Steachmann for third place after a poor start, as the Dane lost his chain on the back straight. Then Shaun Tacey comfortably won Heat 2, but Scott Robson went from second to last during the first lap - and we had another drawn heat in the third as Boyce sped to the win and Brian Andersen took advantage of some confusion between Stuart Robson and Steve Johnston on the first bend to move into second place. Robson recovered fastest from the former pair's bout of fence scraping to secure third.
At that stage, it looked like Oxford might be ready to make a fight of it, but Coventry moved into the lead during a lengthy Heat 4. At the first attempt, Tacey moved into the lead ahead of guest Ronnie Correy, but Correy left a huge gap at the end of the first lap and Paul Hurry took second place. Rossiter, however, came to grief on lap two and the race was stopped and re-started. The race order on this occasion was the reverse, with Correy this time in front of Hurry and Tacey, but Hurry's attempt to get inside Correy went badly wrong as he allowed Tacey through in the process - and the pair's dislike for each other was confirmed after the race as Hurry refused to acknowledge the Bees man.
Wiltshire reeled off his second straight win ahead of the Andersen/Stuart Robson partnership in Heat 5 - for the second time in the meeting, Andersen was catching the Oxford heat leader, but just ran out of time. Heat 6 produced a good scrap behind Hancock, as Jonsson first moved Hurry over to take second place on lap two, but then seemed unsure of what to do, as he was actually faster than Hancock, and ended up making a mistake and letting Hurry re-take him.
Oxford reduced the gap back to four points thanks to Boyce's second win, this time over Correy, in Heat 7, and Johnston's third place ahead of Scott Robson, but Bees responded with another 4-2 in Heat 8 when the rapid Jonsson first moved Steachmann over and then raced away to record the fastest time of the night, with Tacey in third place. That meant Oxford could use a tactical substitute in Heat 9, and surprisingly they chose Wiltshire, when surely they should have used Boyce so that if the move didn't work they could have used Wiltshie alongside Boyce in Heat 10.
As it was, the move failed spectacularly thanks to some brilliant work from Brian Andersen. He made the best gate, with the other three riders all roughly even, but as Stuart Robson careered across the pack on the first bend, Andersen held the race totally in control and emerged behind Robson and ahead of the Oxford pair, who only made a token effort to break the team riding.
Hancock won Heat 10 easily, but all the action was behind him after Jonsson had made another dreadful start, giving yards to Boyce and Johnston. However, he caught and passed both with a majestic display of control on a speedway bike, eventually making it around the outside of Johnston on the last bend, and with Bees now 37-23 up the match was as good as over.
Oxford picked up a 5-1 in Heat 11 through Wiltshire and Steachmann after a dreadful Correy error on the first bend sent him to the back behind Scott Robson. However, any Bees nerves were quelled in the next couple of races. First, in Heat 12, Andersen moved Boyce aside in convincing fashion to take the win, and Correy and Hancock then rode to a surprisingly easy 5-1 over Wiltshire in Heat 13. By this stage, Oxford were frantically juggling all their riders, and that race had seen Hare replace Hurry. They were hoping Wiltshire would win Heat 13, which would have left them ten behind with two races and allowed a Golden Double in Heat 14, but in reality they had gone tactically astray as early as Heat 9, and were always battling to make up for it. What hadn't helped, of course, was that Heat 9 had ended up as a 5-1 to Coventry!
The double tactical came in Heat 14, but it was all rather academic by this stage. Boyce won, but Stuart Robson collected a good, battling second place with a determined dive inside Steachmann on the second lap. That just left Heat 15, and Wiltshire was clearly quite determined from the start as he made another electric start and then fended off the combined challenge of Andersen and Hancock, who couldn't quite sort themselves out quickly enough. However, by that time, Bees had easily secured both match and bonus points.
So, five points from the weekend for Coventry, which realistically was the minimum required. Bad news came in the form of Peterborough's win at Eastbourne, and Bees now simply have to win at Hull on Wednesday, and at either Poole or Belle Vue (maybe both) - not at all easy. They've always dropped points this season at just the wrong time - the home defeat against Ipswich when they were missing riders, a very winnable match at Eastbourne, the draw against Belle Vue when everything went wrong at the end, and then the battering at Kings Lynn which will make the bonus point almost impossible. However, Coventry are definitely re-establishing themselves as one of the sport's top teams, and if they are to fall just short this season, there will be the consolation that Colin Pratt is putting together an excellent side. Maximum effort over the last six weeks or so is now required, because it would be a little cruel for a team heavily involved in all major trophies for the last two years to end up with nothing again.