COVENTRY 42 IPSWICH 48
COVENTRY: IPSWICH:
R.Correy 2'2 3 0 7(1) C.Louis 1 2 3 2 3 3 14
St.Robson 3 2'1'1'0 7(3) S.Clouting 0 0 1' 1(1)
B.Andersen 3 3 2 2 0 10 L.Richardson 1 2'2 3 8(1)
A.Jonsson Rider Replacement T.Topinka 0 3 1'3 7(1)
B.Hamill 3 1 3 1 2 10 T.Gollob 1 3 3 1 2'1 14(1)
Sc.Robson 1 0 R 2 3 B.Woodifield 2'0 1 1 4(1)
S.Tacey X 2'1 2 0 0 F 5(1) J.Bunyan 3 0 0 3
HEAT DETAILS:
Ht 1:St.Robson, Correy, Louis, Clouting, 62.3 5-1 5-1
Ht 2:Bunyan, Woodifield, Sc.Robson(f,rem), Tacey(f,exc), 64.1 1-5 6-6
Ht 3:Andersen, St.Robson, Richardson, Topinka, 63.4 5-1 11-7
Ht 4:Hamill, Tacey, Gollob, Bunyan, 63.3 5-1 16-8
Ht 5:Andersen, Louis, Tacey, Clouting, 62.6 4-2 20-10
Ht 6:Gollob, Correy, St.Robson, Woodifield, 62.7 3-3 23-13
Ht 7:Topinka, Richardson, Hamill, Sc.Robson, 62.9 1-5 24-18
Ht 8:Gollob, Tacey, St.Robson, Bunyan, 63.6 3-3 27-21
Ht 9:Louis, Andersen, Gollob, Tacey, 62.9 2-4 29-25
Ht10:Correy, Richardson, Topinka, St.Robson, 63.4 3-3 32-28
Ht11:Hamill, Louis, Clouting, Sc.Robson(f,rem,ret), 63.5 3-3 35-31
Ht12:Richardson, Andersen, Woodifield, Tacey, 63.6 2-4 37-35
Ht13:Louis, Gollob, Hamill, Correy, 63.9 1-5 38-40
Ht14:Topinka, Sc.Robson, Woodifield, Tacey(f), 63.7 2-4 40-44
Ht15:Louis, Hamill, Gollob, Andersen, 94.5 2-4 42-48
OF ALL THE TEAMS TO lose at home to, perhaps it was written somewhere that it would be Ipswich who would bring everyone back down to earth with a bump. At one-third distance Bees were ten points up and apparently cruising, but by the end there could be no denying that they had been beaten by what was, on the night, the better team.
Far be it from me to make excuses for the defeat, because that should be left to other teams, but for the sake of factual accuracy certain things must be recorded. Firstly, if Coventry had been located in either Oxford or Poole, this meeting would not have taken place because they were missing two important riders. In the final analysis, Ronnie Correy did an adequate job guesting for Greg Hancock, but surely Greg would have scored more, especially in the closing stages. More damaging than that was Andreas Jonsson's absence, with rider replacement scoring just three points, and the arrangement of rides for the Coventry reserves was on occasion somewhat baffling. Meanwhile, there was no doubt that Ipswich struck gold with their booking of Lee Richardson to guest for Toni Svab.
Add to that a less than impressive refereeing performance, with the most inconsistent starts ever seen in speedway, and the fact that the war of words between the two clubs has reached the stage where it is not really helping. Colin Pratt went on the war-path in the programme, with an article that was virtually spot-on in both content and tone - but it was just badly timed, and would have been much better next week, after a victory. As it was, referring to John Louis' "appalling ramblings" and being "totally fed up to the back teeth of his and others belly aching" must have given the Witches plenty of motivation to come to Brandon and reverse their home defeat. It was a trap that the Wolverhampton promotion fell into earlier this season, and another indication of the fact that controversial comments should be made immediately after success, not before.
To the match, then, and a great start for the Bees in Heat 1 with Stuart Robson flying out of the gate to join Correy at the front ahead of a very sluggish Chris Louis and an off-the-pace Savalas Clouting. On the evidence of that race, it looked like Louis was going to endure another poor meeting at Coventry, but he got himself sorted out afterwards and was one of the main reasons for his team's win.
Heat 2 produced a peculiar accident, and strange decision from the referee. Woodifield and Bunyan gated for Ipswich, but Tacey moved inside Bunyan on the third and fourth bends, and was clearly in front coming out of the fourth bend before Bunyan leant back on him causing both riders to fall. It was hard to see what Tacey could have done to avoid the crash, short of not attempting a perfectly feasible overtaking manoevre in the first place, but he was excluded and after a delay Bunyan was fit to take his place in the re-run. Scott Robson surprised everyone by gating, but he was quickly moved over by Woodifield, and he then fell trying to hold off Bunyan, so Ipswich immediately levelled the scores.
Bees then banged in consecutive 5-1s, with Heat 3 perhaps the best of the night. It featured Brian Andersen providing some masterly team-riding to bring Stuart Robson home with him ahead of a thrusting Lee Richardson, who twice got round the outside of Robson, only to find Andersen in the way. Even on the run-in, Andersen shut off to block Richardson and Robson got the verdict on the line. A perfect example of how to team-ride, and credit to Andersen for having the ability to do it. Things got even better for the Coventry fans in Heat 4 when Gollob, after some frantic bike-swapping, was shunted back into third place at the start and never made any impression on either Hamill or Tacey who took a popular maximum.
It's worth mentioning at this point that for each of his six rides Gollob had two bikes brought onto the track and on occasions he would swap between them with a mechanic working on the other one. This is taking gamesmanship to its absolute limits, and there should be a rule enforced that outlaws this behaviour. The pits are where unused bikes should be worked on, not the track - or perhaps Mr Gollob would like to set up camp on the centre. It would have to be temporary, of course, otherwise it could be damaged by stray stock-cars or go-karts, but it would be a preferable alternative to bringing everything bar the tool box onto the track.
Bees extended their lead with a well-taken 4-2 in Heat 5, Andersen riding a powerful first corner to fend off Louis, and Tacey taking a couple of laps to line up Clouting and then charge inside him. Clouting was clearly desperate to keep Tacey back, but he wasn't able to hold a tight line and the Bees man was through.
Gollob changed bikes (for about the 17th time of the night) prior to Heat 6 and some of the adjustments had obviously worked as he scored an unchallenged win over Correy and Stuart Robson. And the Ipswich fightback began in earnest in Heat 7 when Hamill gifted Richardson track position at the start by trying too hard to force Topinka out. Hamill chased Richardson and cut inside him on lap three, but Richardson kept things wound on and came back round the outside for a notable second place to cut the gap to six points.
Also notable at this point was that the Ipswich promotion had clearly just read the programme article and Magda Louis wasn't slow to engage her foghorn, accusing Peter York of not giving Ipswich enough credit for a 5-1.
Gollob, plus bikes, appeared in Heat 8 as a tactical substitute, but at this stage it was only a ploy to prevent the team from going any further behind, because Bunyan was left in the race against Tacey and Stuart Robson. The predictable 3-3 kept the gap at six points, and Louis then came into Heat 9 to join Gollob. At this point, Bees should surely have used up one of Scott Robson's rides against a pairing that neither Bees reserve was likely to beat, but they left Tacey in and it turned out to be a good race. Louis gated and won as he pleased, but Gollob appeared to be struggling slightly and Andersen had to first break clear from Tacey before diving through to second place on the inside on the second lap. Even so, the Ipswich 4-2 narrowed the gap to four points.
Heat 10 produced a classic case of first-bend bunching, but the race was not stopped despite Stuart Robson being left with nowhere to go between Richardson and Topinka. Correy had made the worst gate, but he benefitted from the confusion in front and switched line to the inside to win the race, fending off the challenge of the very rapid Richardson, who looks a real star of the future.
Hamill won Heat 11 by pushing Clouting into Louis' path and Scott Robson again threw away the chance of a third place with another fall. Heat 12, though, saw the gap trimmed again, with Richardson proving it was possible to win from the outside on merit, getting across ahead of Andersen, and Woodifield hanging on to a crucial third place ahead of Tacey.
The clash of the giants in Heat 13 always had a slightly dodgy look about it, and Bees' problem was that Correy lifted at a most inopportune moment, just as it looked like he might have made the jump ahead of Louis and Gollob. Louis took the lead and Correy was totally boxed as Gollob and Hamill both swept round him exiting Turn 2. But there was no catching the Ipswich duo who put the Witches in front, and very much in control.
Bees were now crippled by the fact that they were using rider replacement for their No.5, and they had no option left to them other than to go with their reserves. Topinka was always the favourite for the race, but Tacey crashed out on the first bend - another stange looking fall, and it did appear that he had a bike problem. Scott Robson did, to be fair, produce one of his best races for Coventry to beat Woodifield comfortably, but it was almost too little too late by then, because Witches were now four points clear, and a miracle was required.
It didn't happen. Louis made a great start to the decider, and with Andersen squeezed to the back, that was that. Hamill never quite looked like passing Louis, and it became clear very early on that Gollob was only interested in blocking Andersen so that even if Louis hit problems, Ipswich would still win. Andersen tried everything to get through, but couldn't make it, and Ipswich were celebrating.
A home defeat is always a disappointment, but there's still a lot to go for this season. Bees did win at Foxhall unexpectedly, so although they lost at home the net effect of the two fixtures was only the loss of the bonus point. What they really need now is to run a sequence of matches with a full team, because it seems a very long time since they actually did that. Ipswich? Grudgingly, with a heavy heart, I have to say congratulations on a fighting comeback that puts them very much in the hunt for a second consecutive title - and would we ever hear the last of it if that happens?