COVENTRY: POOLE:
G.Hancock 2 3 3 0 8 M.Loram 3 3 3 1 0 10
St.Robson F 1 3 1 5 M.Ferjan 1 1 2 1 5
J.Jorgensen 2'0 0 1 3(1) G.Havelock 0 2'2 2 6(1)
A.Jonsson 3 2 3 3 2' 13(1) L.Richardson 1 3 0 2 6
B.Hamill 3 1 2 2 3 11 S.Nicholls 2 2 1'3 1 9(1)
Sc.Robson 2 F 0 2 R.Lobb 0 0 0 0
S.Tacey 1'1 1 3 1 7(1) M.Zetterstrom 3 X 0 2 0 5
BEES OVERCAME A STIFF TEST from the high-flying Pirates to keep their Championship hopes alive with a good all-round performance which resulted in a well-deserved win. And there was no doubt that the star of the show was the young Swede, Andreas Jonsson, fully recovered from illness and injury, and he once again showed his pace in perhaps his best performance in British speedway.
With torrential rain hitting many parts of the country, it was a relief to complete the mad dash back from Selhurst Park in time for the match and find that Brandon had escaped the worst of the weather. Indeed, as early as Heat 1 the dust clouds were again billowing, although things did improve with the introduction of the water sprinkler after a few races.
The track was fairly slick, although there was a line around the outside for those who had the power to use it. What was unusual, however, was the huge benefit in being off gate 3, which scored an incredible 34(+2) points out of 45 throughout the night - and this figure could have been more but for Stuart Robson falling whilst leading Heat 1. The only other last place recorded from gate 3 was by Scott Robson, and both Stuart Robson and Greg Hancock produced overtaking manoevres to win races having been outgated. So of the 14 races in which there was one of the 12 relatively competitive riders on gate 3, the only time that the gate 3 man failed to make the start was when Jonsson beat Magnus Zetterstrom away in Heat 9!
Bees looked like they were making the perfect start in Heat 1 with Hancock and Stuart Robson squeezing Mark Loram out at the start. But Robson slid off going into lap 2, and a much quicker Loram chased after Hancock, and rounded the American on the third lap. With Ferjan inheriting third place, Pirates had an immediate lead, which they maintained in Heat 2 as Zetterstrom, who usually scores points at Coventry, took an untroubled win over Scott Robson and Shaun Tacey.
Guest John Jorgensen made a dream start to Heat 3 and Jonsson moved into second place after a good tussle with Lee Richardson, the Bees man moving inside on lap three as Richardson went a little wide to try to get round Jorgensen. Jonsson then swept round Jorgensen on the last bend to give an indication of his pace, and Bees had a 5-1.
Heat 4 was re-run, which was disappointing for Bees because Scott Nicholls made a poor start and was well behind Billy Hamill and Tacey when Zetterstrom got into all sorts of trouble on turn 3 and came crashing down. In the re-run, Bees again gated but Nicholls switched quickly to the inside and literally moved Tacey out of the way in a move which bordered on unacceptable, because it caused Tacey to shut off as he slewed across the track. Hamill was a convincing winner, and Tacey made his feelings known to Nicholls after the race.
Jorgensen couldn't repeat his good start in Heat 5 , and after losing out at the first bend he found himself well behind the rest of the race, which was won by Loram ahead of Jonsson and Ferjan as Pirates reduced the gap to two points. Then came an excellent Heat 6 as Stuart Robson and Nicholls disputed second place behind Hancock, with both using the outside line to pass the other. Nicholls won the battle in the end, leaving Bees 20-16 up, but this gap was wiped out during Heat 7 when Hamill seemed to get tangled up between the Poole riders off the start line, and then couldn't catch either Richardson or Havelock. Scott Robson fell on the second bend, so that was 21-21.
There was more good action in Heat 8 as Ferjan took advantage of gate 3 to move into the lead, but Stuart Robson chased him for three laps before decisively moving through on the inside on Turn 1, and the gap created almost gave Tacey the space to come through as well. There was then a delay before Heat 9 - Jorgensen suffered bike problems before the start, and managed to cut the tapes wiring as he took the short route back to the pits! After looking like he would be on Hancock's bike, the hold-up gave him time to get back on his own machine, not that it helped him much because he was shoved out on the first bend. But it was the impressive Jonsson who came off best, getting the better of Nicholls and the reserve replacement Zetterstrom.
Hancock took a couple of laps and then calmly picked off Havelock to win Heat 10, with Stuart Robson picking up a useful third place ahead of Richardson, but this 4-2 was immediately cancelled out after the interval with Loram just squeezing round Hamill at the start of Heat 11 and Ferjan easily beating Scott Robson.
The trading of 4-2s continued right until the last race. Heat 12 saw Tacey hop out of the start to beat Havelock, whilst Jorgensen, after a dreadful gate, quickly moved past Lobb. But Pirates cut the gap back to two points in a highly competitive Heat 13, and it looked like they could do more when Nicholls and Loram gated. Hamill and Hancock gave furious chase, and Hamill managed to split the pairing, just getting round Loram and then switching immediately, almost getting his wheels in line to go inside Nicholls. For Hancock, though, there was no way through.
It looked like Coventry were going to secure the win in Heat 14, with Jonsson shooting off into the distance to win, but Richardson battled hard to peg back Tacey and eventually rounded the Coventry reserve on the third lap, to give the heat leaders the chance of a draw. However, facing the speedy Jonsson was always going to be a problem to Poole, and it became a bigger problem when Bees won the toss which allowed Jonsson to take gate 3!
In the event, it was Hamill who made the best start of all, from the inside, and Jonsson took the long route round the outside to finally make it through into second place at the end of the lap. Nicholls and Loram quickly fell away, and Bees had picked the perfect time of the match to extend their lead to six points and beyond! To give a satisfactory end to matters, Hancock retained the Golden Helmet ahead of the challenge of Nicholls, who kept close enough for the four laps without ever really looking like he was going to get through.
An important win for Coventry, especially after such a long lay-off, and they can now go into the last ten weeks of the season with confidence. It is essential that they win the Sky match at Wolverhampton on Wednesday, and that would send them nicely up the table. If the Americans are able to produce their normal Wolverhampton performances, it could turn out to be a successful evening, especially if Jonsson can produce some Monmore form.