BEES: CHEETAHS:
S.Parker 2 X 1 1 1'1 6(1) T.Wiltshire 3 3 3 2 2 13
S.Tacey 0 X 0 0 J.Steachmann 1 2'2'2' 7(3)
A.Jonsson 0 0 X 0 S.Johnston 1 1'2'1 5(2)
C.Gjedde 2 1 1 2 6 P.Hurry 3 2 3 F 8
G.Hancock 3 3 3 X 3 3 15 C.Boyce 1 2'2 0 5(1)
S.Robson X 0 0 X 0 L.Hare 3 3 3 3 3 15
R.Madsen 2 2'1 2 7(1) A.Rossiter 1 0 0 1
HEAT DETAILS:
Ht 1:Wiltshire, Parker, Staechmann, Tacey(f,rem), 63.3 2-4 2-4
Ht 2:Hare, Madsen, Rossiter, Robson(f,exc), 66.1 2-4 4-8
Ht 3:Hurry, Gjedde, Johnston, Jonsson, 64.8 2-4 6-12
Ht 4:Hancock, Madsen, Boyce, Rossiter, 65.7 5-1 11-13
Ht 5:Wiltshire, Staechmann, Gjedde, Jonsson, 66.8 1-5 12-18
Ht 6:Hare, Boyce, Tacey(f,exc), Parker(f,exc) 0-5 12-23
Ht 7:Hancock, Hurry, Johnston, Robson, 63.9 3-3 15-26
Ht 8:Hare, Staechmann, Madsen, Tacey, 66.5 1-5 16-31
Ht 9:Hancock, Boyce, Gjedde, Rossiter(f,rem), 63.4 4-2 20-33
Ht10:Hurry, Johnston, Parker, Robson, 64.1 1-5 21-38
Ht11:Wiltshire, Staechmann, Robson(f,exc), Hancock(f,exc)0-5 21-43
Ht12:Hare, Madsen, Johnston, Jonsson(f,exc) 2-4 23-47
Ht13:Hancock, Wiltshire, Parker, Boyce, 63.8 4-2 27-49
Ht14:Hare, Gjedde, Parker, Hurry(f), 65.3 3-3 30-52
Ht15:Hancock, Wiltshire, Parker, 96.4 4-2 34-54
TOTALLY EMBARRASSING.
How can one begin to describe the events of possibly the worst night in the history of Coventry Speedway? A meeting raced on a track that was essentially dangerous, despite the fact that no significant rain had fallen on Saturday, some almost laughable attempts to rectify the situation - and at the end of it all, one team showed the ability to adapt to the conditions, whilst for the other, it was a cause for celebration if they managed to complete four laps in one piece. Sadly, Coventry were the latter team, and, of course, the barely believable irony was that the victorious Oxford team manager was none other than Colin Meredith.
It's difficult to put a meeting like this into any sort of perspective, and probably the best way to proceed is with a blow-by-blow account of what went on...until my departure from the stadium after Heat 12. It went something like this:
There had clearly been a little rain during the day, but not a great amount as the terraces were essentially dry. But the track certainly looked heavy from the start, although it didn't ride too badly in Heat 1 as Todd Wiltshire impressively led Bees guest Shane Parker home, with Shaun Tacey coming to grief on the exit from Turn 2 trying a big dive up the inside.
Heat 2 provided some indication of the chaos that was to follow. The Cheetahs pairing gated, but Stuart Robson was quickly inside Alun Rossiter. On lap 2, he made a similar attempt inside Lawrence Hare, but went into turn 3 too fast and too narrow, and gracefully slid earthwards. Rossiter and Madsen were caught up in the tangle as well, but all were unhurt, and Madsen comfortably relieved Rossiter of second place behind Hare during the re-run.
With the track showing signs of cutting up, Paul Hurry put his grasstrack experience to good use in winning Heat 3 ahead of a steady ride by Charlie Gjedde, but Andreas Jonsson was a disastrous last behind Steve Johnston. That gave Oxford an immediate 6-point lead, but there was finally something to smile about in Heat 4, and it was another example of Madsen using track craft to gain success over a quicker opponent - this time he beat Craig Boyce to second place behind a dominant Greg Hancock for a Bees 5-1.
Unfortunately, Gjedde and Jonsson took team-riding to new extremes in Heat 5, and as they tangled up on the first bend, Wiltshire and Staechmann gratefully accepted what was essentially a gift 5-1. Then came the amazing saga of Heat 6 - and if Bees thought beforehand that this was unlikely to be a night to be remembered fondly, this was the confirmation.
Ironically, it all started well with Parker making an excellent start and Tacey joining him up-front ahead of Boyce and Hare. But Tacey was passed within a lap and a half by both Oxford riders, and then Parker slammed into the fence exiting Turn 4, with the following riders doing well to avoid him. Parker was frustrated that he'd let the win slip, but the result of this crash was that the decision was finally taken to work on the track. This work turned out to be a totally shambolic episode.
First, a solitary tractor slowly plodded round the same line four or five times. It was then joined by a second. Eventually, out came the blade (Meredith would have had this revving up after Heat 2). For some inexplicable reason, the grading took place initally from the outside inwards, and after a lengthy delay the track looked very little better, and there was a huge line of dirt around the first and second bends, about 90% of the way towards the outside.
Racing re-commenced and Tacey did everything right for three and a half laps as he resisted a strong challenge from Hare - until coming to grief on the last bend. With Hare having laid it down in avoidance, the race had to be awarded with Tacey's exclusion, so Coventry couldn't even get a point from the race. Heat 7 provided some respite, with Hancock an easy winner and Robson well behind Hurry and Johnston, but normal service was resumed in Heat 8, although Madsen was slightly unlucky - having ridden an excellent first corner to move Staechmann over, and get round Hare, the Oxford riders went either side of him coming out of the fourth bend. Tacey was a peripheral figure to this action.
Hancock came into Heat 9 as a tactical substitute, but with overtaking likely to be a hazardous business, the Golden Double was not employed. Hancock duly headed Boyce home, and Gjedde had no opposition for third place as Rossiter fell on the first bend. That made the score 20-33, but Oxford extended their lead in Heat 10 after a bizarre accident. A tough first bend saw Robson put down after a clash with Hurry, and Parker, off the outside, had nowhere to go but into the layer of sludge, which promptly flipped him off! This, of course, had been an accident waiting to happen, and Parker had every right to be furious. In the re-run, he made a mistake on the top bend to allow Johnston through to follow Hurry in for another 5-1.
It seemed that things couldn't get any worse...wrong again! Hancock was outgated for the first time in Heat 11, by Wiltshire, and in attempting to go round the Australian on the third bend, he came to grief. He waved to the referee as he left the track, but there were no long telephone protests, and it did seem, from a long way away, as if he had just run out of room. That didn't deter Robson from making a kamikaze attempt in the re-run, with the inevitable consequence of accident, race stoppage, Coventry exclusion and Oxford 5-0.
Briefly, with the match already lost, Bees looked like getting some points back in Heat 12 as Jonsson and Madsen gated. Hare produced an excellent move to get round Madsen on the fourth bend, but he didn't look like getting near Jonsson, until on the third lap, the third bend once again caught out a Coventry rider, and Jonsson took an awkward fall over the handlebars. It was almost as if a chain had snapped, but I suspect he simply went into some deep stuff and lost it. Happily he was uninjured, and a Bees 4-2 had suddenly been reversed.
That was really the point at which the meeting should have been abandoned, as there came the news that the track required more work! But by this stage disgruntled fans were streaming out of the stadium, including my lift home! What more could possibly go wrong was therefore left to the imagination for an hour or so, but it seems that Bees actually clawed a few points back at the end, largely thanks to a couple more wins from the blameless Hancock. In between, in Heat 14, Hare completed his maximum - slighly fortunate, perhaps, on the night, in that he seemed to constantly benefit from people falling off around him, but still good to see an unsung hero taking the accolades - and his status will no doubt be further elevated amongst Oxford followers. Thanks to James Daly, incidentally, for informing me that Heat 14 actually turned out to be the best race of the night, with Hare completing his maximum by passing both Parker and Gjedde.
Where to now for Coventry? We're only a week into the season, but the overall impression in that week has not been at all good. Putting to one side the abysmal team performance, the whole way in which the show has been run over the first couple of weeks has been most un-Coventry. And there is one mystery which people would love to see solved: who, exactly, is doing the track this season? It's not mentioned in the programme, and it was clear from this meeting that the procedures in sub-standard conditions are not good enough. But surely Colin Meredith, in the Oxford pits, must have had a satisfied smile on his face as he left what used to be his stadium. It's useless fact time: the last time an ex-Coventry manager returned to Brandon with an opposition team, he won. The manager was Mick Bell...the team was Oxford! It also turned out to be the last match in charge of Coventry for the late Bob Tanser.
It's impossible to think about consolation after a night like this, but if anyone would like a vaguely positive thought: our team average will have plummeted after this meeting. In saying that, I never want to experience a meeting like that ever again.