BEES: WOLVES:
G.Hancock 1'3 3 3 2 12(1) M.Karlsson 3 1 3 2'0 9(1)
St.Robson 2 2'2 0 6(1) G.Stancl Rider Replacement
B.Andersen 2 2'3 2 1' 11(2) N.Pedersen 3 0 3 2 3 2'0 13(1)
A.Jonsson 0 3 2'1 6(1) A.Rossiter X X 1'3 4(1)
B.Hamill 2 2 E 1 5 P.Karlsson 3 1 1 3 2 3 13
Sc.Robson 2'1'1 0 4(2) R.Juul 1 1 0 1 0 3
S.Tacey 3 1'X 1' 5(2) C.Taylor F 0 0 0
HEAT DETAILS:
Ht 1:M.Karlsson, St.Robson, Hancock, Rossiter(f,exc), 64.2 3-3 3-3
Ht 2:Tacey, Sc.Robson, Juul, Taylor(f), 64.4 5-1 8-4
Ht 3:Pedersen, Andersen, Juul, Jonsson, 63.2 2-4 10-8
Ht 4:P.Karlsson, Hamill, Tacey, Taylor, 63.2 3-3 13-11
Ht 5:Jonsson, Andersen, M.Karlsson, Pedersen, 62.0 5-1 18-12
Ht 6:Hancock, St.Robson, P.Karlsson, Juul, 62.8 5-1 23-13
Ht 7:Pedersen, Hamill, Sc.Robson, Rossiter(f,exc), 64.0 3-3 26-16
Ht 8:M.Karlsson, St.Robson, Juul, Tacey(exc), 62.8 2-4 28-20
Ht 9:Andersen, Jonsson, P.Karlsson, Taylor, 63.4 5-1 33-21
Ht10:Hancock, Pedersen, Rossiter, St.Robson(f,rem), 63.0 3-3 36-24
Ht11:P.Karlsson, M.Karlsson, Sc.Robson, Hamill(ef), 63.7 1-5 37-29
Ht12:Pedersen, Andersen, Tacey, Juul, 62.9 3-3 40-32
Ht13:Hancock, P.Karlsson, Hamill, M.Karlsson, 62.8 4-2 44-34
Ht14:Rossiter, Pedersen, Jonsson, Sc.Robson, 63.6 1-5 45-39
Ht15:P.Karlsson, Hancock, Andersen, Pedersen, 94.1 3-3 48-42
Golden Helmet: Hancock beat Pedersen
SPEEDWAY ROARED INTO THE NINETIES, and into the real world of commercial breaks, immediate interviews and airships. And the Sky crew couldn't have wished for a more incident-packed meeting for their first live match, as there were more incidents and controversy in this one night than there had been all season previously. It was just a shame that so many people clearly chose to stay at home and watch the television. Next time, record it!!!
The pre-match hype had surrounded the return to the Bees side of Billy Hamill, so after receiving a hero's welcome, it was somewhat ironic that he would produce comfortably his lowest Coventry score! In fairness, he appeared to be underpowered, and so was reduced to a bit-part player in a great, solid Bees performance.
Sky want incidents and drama, and they can often create it where none exists, but procedings certainly got off to a spectacular start in Heat 1. As Hancock outgated Mikael Karlsson, guest Alun Rossiter made the best start of all, came flying round the outside, and promptly overcooked the first corner, taking Hancock with him as both riders came to grief. Briefly, it looked nasty for Hancock, but in fact he was just trapped in his bike, but Rossiter received a bang on the head and received quite lengthy treatment.
Karlsson gated well in the re-run and fended off an enthusiastic challenge from Stuart Robson, with Hancock's bike slowing and eventually coasting by the end of lap three - fortunately, with nobody behind him, he was able to pick up a point. The action continued in Heat 2 as Craig Taylor made the best start, only to be overhauled by Shaun Tacey on the back straight. Taylor then went wide coming off the fourth bend, creating a gap for Scott Robson. As the two attacked the pits bend together, Taylor came off worst and rotated out of the race, with Robson just about seeing Juul off for a Bees 5-1.
Wolves fought back in Heat 3. Juul, in as a replacement for a dazed Rossiter, gated with Nicki Pedersen, and they headed a somewhat subdued Brian Andersen, who took a couple of laps to get properly into the action. Then he made his effort on the last bend, and, in the referee's opinion, just managed to cut inside Juul on the line for second place. Sky will no doubt confirm the decision, but it did come as something of a surprise.
Heat 4 saw the return of Hamill, and he didn't endear himself to the Wolves fans as he clashed with Peter Karlsson on the first bend resulting in the Swede falling. With all four brought back for the re-run, Taylor, for the second time in the race, again made the best gate. The big two were soon past him, and then Karlsson brilliantly powered inside Hamill on lap three, Tacey having already overhauled Taylor.
With Heat 5 pitting two Wolves winners against a Coventry partnership which hadn't looked too strong in Heat 3, it looked like the two-point gap would be eradicated, but in fact it was Jonsson who flew away to clock a time over a second faster than anything else to that stage - and Andersen was behind him, seemingly unable to keep up, but able to do enough to beat Karlsson and Pedersen for a most useful Bees 5-1. It got even better for Coventry in Heat 6 as Hancock got the better of Peter Karlsson on the first lap and then Stuart Robson got a fantastic run up the back straight on lap 2 to slip inside the stunned Swede. 5-1 again, and Bees 23-13 to the good.
There hadn't been a fall for a few races, but Rossiter was back in the action in Heat 7, and an horrendously tight first lap saw Hamill just sneaking ahead into the third bend ahead of Scott Robson and Rossiter, with Pedersen just behind. With the elbows flailing, Rossiter appeared to lose control going into the corner, taking both himself and Robson off, with Pedersen making an excellent avoidance. Rossiter picked up a second exclusion, much to his disgust, but that was just the prelude to a sensational re-run. Nobody expected Pedersen to overtake Hamill, but that's exactly what he did - having nearly come off on turn three as he dived inside, he somehow switched immediately to the outside and charged round the American who was again relegated to second place.
Still the incidents continued in Heat 8 with a no-holds-barred battle between Tacey and Juul on the first lap. The Wolves man cut across Tacey on the fourth bend, but Tacey dived back inside at the start of the second lap - in doing so, however, he clattered into Juul and sent him sprawling into the fence to earn an inevitable inclusion. Tactical substitute Mikael Karlsson had stayed well clear of these fun and games on that occasion, but he made no mistake in the re-run, after Stuart Robson had tried an audacious switch to the inside coming off the first bend which very nearly worked.
Bees were eight points up at this stage, and at the start of Heat 9 there were a few hearts in mouths as Taylor made yet another great start but completely failed to turn on the first bend. Brian Andersen just managed to avoid him and squeeze round the outside, with Jonsson virtually stopping on the third bend to allow him round the outside and prevent Peter Karlsson from coming through. That put Bees 12 points clear going into the interval.
Stuart Robson took a fall at the start of Heat 10, which was won by Hancock ahead of Pedersen and Rossiter (finally stopping on for more than a lap) and Wolves then paired the two Karlssons against Hamill in Heat 11. From the gate, he split them, but then went too wide on the third bend and dropped to third place. From there on, he progressively lost power and eventually retired, and Wolves had got the gap down to eight points.
Heat 12 produced a real Elite League first corner. After a re-start following a Tacey flyer, Andersen, Tacey, Pedersen and Juul all arrived at the first corner at the same time, and how they all came through it was something of a miracle. Tacey, perhaps, produced the most unusual manoevre to get round Juul. The impressive Pedersen saw off Andersen's attentions for the duration of the race.
With the gap at eight points, the key was going to be the Heat 13 meeting of Hancock and Hamill and the Karlssons. It was another cracking first bend, with Hancock coming off best, and Hamill producing a determined burst round the outside to get past Mikael Karlsson. The 4-2 put Bees 10 up, and Wolves' only hope would have been to use Pedersen as a Golden Joker in Heat 14 and gambled on getting an 8-1 - which they had managed at Monmore on Monday. Strangely, with nothing to lose, they failed to take up this option, and the script for the race had been written as typical Alun Rossiter. Having done nothing other than cause mayhem all night, he made another good gate and this time managed to hang on for the whole race. Behind him was a frantic battle between Pedersen and Jonsson, with the Dane not sure what to do as Rossiter was far too slow for him. Jonsson produced an extra burst of speed going up the back straight for the final time, and it would surely have taken him from third to first but for a blatant blocking manoevre from Pedersen which forced Jonsson to shut off or slam into the fence. That was a 5-1, but now the match was beyond Wolves.
Again the 6-lap final turned into a complete anti-climax with Peter Karlsson gating well and just holding off Hancock, with Andersen in a comfortable third place after Pedersen's first lap challenge had been repelled. After a lengthy delay, the Golden Helmet race took place, and Hancock, despite a slight error on the second bend, yet again retained the award by beating Pedersen.
Overall, this had to be a positive night for speedway, and it was certainly a positive night for Coventry, whose Elite League challenge starts here. Wolves will obviously point to the absences of Stancl and Jensen, but put Hamill's normal contribution into the team and Bees could be awesome. With Hancock leading from the front, Andersen solid on his return, and the second-strings and reserves all scoring good points, the optimism is finally back at Brandon.