Swindon 42 Coventry 48 

"I'm going to look at the market", says team manager Ronnie Russell

Swindon fell to a disappointing six-point defeat at the hands of a resurgent Coventry side. A well organised Bees' septet led from the outset and the Robins were unable to halt the charge of Alun Rossiter's side.

On a night of scintillating on-track action, the Blunsdon race-strip served up a succession of fantastic racing as both teams utilised the perfect track conditions. However, despite the excellent standard of racing on offer, Swindon will ultimately be left disappointed that they were unable to register overall victory.

 

 
Robins’ captain Leigh Adams headed the Swindon score-chart with a paid 13-point haul. The Australian stalwart provided lashings of entertainment throughout and indulged in three terrific battles with Bees’ skipper Chris Harris in heats one, thirteen and fifteen.

 
Adams received solid support from Simon Stead, whose paid 12-point contribution saw the popular Brit deservedly scoop the Swindon Man of the Match Award. Meanwhile, Grzegorz Zengota amassed an excellent 8-point tally and demonstrated plenty of speed as the evening progressed.

 

 
Cory Gathercole notched a paid 7-point total from the reserve berth, whilst Justin Sedgmen struggled to recover from a heavy opening ride fall and could only card a solitary point.

 
The nasty looking heat two, second lap fall for Sedgmen made Swindon’s task considerably tougher. The Australian youngster, who has shown scintillating form of late, was understandably shaken after the incident. Despite returning to action for his next programmed ride, the Milduran born racer looked far from comfortable.

 
The Danish duo of Mads Korneliussen and Morten Risager will have been disappointed with their overall contributions. A trio of pointless outings, before a second placed finish in his concluding ride limited Risager to a 2-point return.

 

 
His compatriot, Korneliussen, endured a luckless evening, too, and could only muster a below par paid 4-point return. The Robins’ heat-leader fell on the fourth bend on two separate occasions, but thankfully walked away unscathed both times.

 
The visiting side registered a strong all-round performance and displayed an impressive strength-in-depth that has rarely shone through in 2010. Captain Chris Harris led by example and got proceedings underway with a composed heat one victory.

 

The Grand Prix rider went on to card a 12-point total and was the linchpin of the Bees’ eventual success. He received decent back-up from exciting second-string Ben Barker who gleaned paid 10 and fellow Brit Edward Kennett whose paid 9 contribution was well-acquired.

 
Coventry’s new addition. Polish hot-shot Przemyslaw Pawlicki, certainly made an eye-catching and scored well from his second-string capacity.

 

 
The visiting side took the lead in heat one and maintained the ascendancy throughout the fifteen heats of action. Whilst the Robins were able to contain Coventry’s advantage, Ronnie Russell’s side were ultimately unable to overhaul the cushion the Bees had constructed.

SWINDON
Leigh Adams (C) 2 2* 2* 3 2 - - 11 (2)
Grzegorz Zengota 0 3 2 3 - - - 8
Morten Risager 0 0 0 2 - - - 2
Simon Stead 3 1 3 3 1* - - 11 (1)
Mads Korneliussen 1* D 2 D - - - 3 (1)
Justin Sedgmen D 1 0 - - - - 1
Cory Gathercole 3 2 0 1* 0 - - 6 (1)
Team manager: Ronnie Russell

COVENTRY
Chris Harris (C) 3 3 1 2 3 - - 12
Ben Barker 1 2* 3 3 0 - - 9 (1)
Edward Kennett 1* 2* 1 3 - - - 7 (2)
Przemyslaw Pawlicki 2 3 0 2 - - - 7
Rory Schlein 3 1 2 1* - - - 7 (1)
Richard Sweetman 2 0 1 0 1* - - 4 (1)
Filip Sitera 1* 0 1* - - - - 2 (2)
Team manager: Alun Rossiter

Referee: Tony Steele

 

photos by Ian Lewis