Swindon 60 Eastbourne 36 

The Robins win the battle of the birds

 
At a sun-drenched Blunsdon, Swindon hit sixty as Ronnie Russell’s side comfortably repelled the challenge of Eastbourne.

The Robins looked impressive from the outset and contributed an impressive all-round performance that secured all three Sky Sports Elite league points on offer.

 

Despite the large margin of victory, the meeting was laced with an array of entertaining racing and passing was plentiful. Indeed, Eastbourne’s big two of Matej Zagar and Joonas Kylmakorpi were right amongst the action throughout and offered some stern resistance.

 
Zagar’s Blunsdon return was well received by the Abbey Stadium faithful and the thrill-a-minute Slovenian certainly caught the eye with his unique riding style.

 
Swindon led from the outset and had romped to a ten-point lead after the conclusion of race four. An Eastbourne tactical ride ensued in the fifth but that did little to halt the Robins’ charge as Ronnie Russell’s septet went on to register a twenty-three point lead after the conclusion of race twelve.

 

 
A further Eastbourne tactical ride followed in race thirteen, but successive heat advantages in the concluding two races re-bolstered Swindon’s overall advantage.

 
A bumper fourteen point haul from Leigh Adams topped the Swindon score-chart. The Robins captain dropped just a solitary point from his five ride schedule and received solid support from the remainder of the Swindon squad.

 
Elsewhere, Mads Korneliussen’s impressive streak of form continued as the popular Dane amassed a terrific paid eleven point score. Talented Polish hot-shot Grzegorz Zengota once again impressed by gaining three heat wins and eventually notching an identical score to his riding partner, Korneliussen.

 

Simon Stead also amassed a paid eleven point contribution, whilst Morten Risager accrued a well deserved paid eight from the No.2 position and was forced to fight hard for the majority of his points.

 

 
Thomas H. Jonasson displayed his usual tenacious riding style and he scooped a paid eight score, whilst Cory Gathercole recovered from a nasty heat two fall to score a solid paid four. Indeed, Gathercole was involved in a heat two horror spill that saw Eastbourne reserve Ricky Kling clatter into the Swindon rider on turn four of lap one.

 
Thankfully, both riders escaped the incident relatively unscathed – with Kling later withdrawing due to concussion.

 

 
Eastbourne’s charge was jointly headed by the aforementioned Matej Zagar and Jonas Kylmakorpi. Both secured twelve point scores, but support was thin on the ground for the Eagles’ top two.

 

Chris Schramm demonstrated plenty of fight from the Eastbourne reserve berth, but the Sussex side were unable to adequately cover for the absence of Cameron Woodward who missed out due to injury.

  
In truth, the Robins middle order comfortably overcame the Eastbourne threat and Swindon once again demonstrated a promising amount of strength-in-depth. Ronnie Russell’s side will now be targeting a positive result at Coventry’s Brandon stadium on Monday evening.

 
"The win last week at Ipswich was the catalyst to start our second half of the season and this result follows on from that," said Swindon team-manager Ronnie Russell.

"A big win like this will do the team a world of good. It will act as a huge confidence booster and that is vital in speedway.

"We’ve successfully put distance between ourselves and the teams beneath us. Now we’re on a charge to catch the sides above us in the league as we work towards securing a play-off berth. “

 

photos by Ian Lewis