EASTBOURNE 53 BUILDBASE BEES 40COVENTRY’S chances of a top-four finish and a place in the play-offs finally came to an end at Eastbourne on Monday night.
The Buildbase Bees, who had kept themselves in the battle with a brave run of results from a depleted team in recent weeks, went down to a 53-40 defeat at Arlington – exactly the same scoreline recorded by a very different-looking line-up at the same venue nine days ago.
It means that for only the third time in the ten years of the play-off format, Coventry will not be involved as the battle for the title goes into its deciding phase, with Poole, Eastbourne, King’s Lynn and Lakeside confirmed as the qualifiers.
Bees did all they could at Arlington, led by a super show by the returning Emil Sayfutdinov, and there was also further notice of the precocious talent of 17-year-old Nick Morris.
The Australian was one of several riders involved in traffic chaos on the way to the stadium with the M23 closed, but he collected the prized scalps of Eagles’ top duo Bjarne Pedersen and Joonas Kylmakorpi before his night ended cruelly with a crash in Heat 12 as he attempted to complete a spectacular pass on Simon Gustafsson.
The Pawlicki brothers were also in the thick of the drama, both being involved in a series of first-bend incidents around the tight Arlington circuit, but youngster Piotr performed creditably with a controlled display on an unfamiliar track, whilst Przemek turned his night around late on with second places in the last two heats.
Kenni Larsen, riding with a broken wrist, picked up some useful third places when Bees were looking to maintain an interest in the meeting, whilst skipper Ryan Fisher had one of those nights – summed up by a harsh disqualification from Heat 7 when he seemed to have been clipped by Timo Lahti before going down.
Sayfutdinov starred with three race wins, including finding the narrowest of gaps around Cameron Woodward to take Heat 5, and at 20-16 down after six, Bees had recovered well from a tricky start.
But 5-1 reverses in Heats 7 and 10 proved costly in the final analysis, with Eastbourne able to cope with Bees taking a 7-2 from a tactical ride outing for Sayfutdinov in Heat 11.
The home team won each of the final four races to first end Bees’ hopes of the draw they realistically needed to keep their top-four hopes alive, then Lewis Bridger’s win in Heat 14 left Coventry needing a miracle 5-0 in the last race to salvage a point, and Bjarne Pedersen duly took the flag in Heat 15 to finally end the title defence.
Bees co-boss Alun Rossiter said: “We’re all disappointed, I genuinely believed we could get to the play-offs, but it was just a bridge too far unfortunately.
“Everyone’s aim at the start of the season is to make the play-offs, and so not making it is disappointing after such a great year last year.
“So it’s a downer at the moment, but we will get over it. There are lots of options to look at for next year, and we’ll get ready for that.”
Bees complete their league season with a home match against King’s Lynn at Brandon on Thursday (7.30pm) and further confirmed fixtures are home-and-away clashes with Birmingham later this month for the Midland Cup, and Wolverhampton in October for the Midland Bowl.
EASTBOURNE 53: Bjarne Pedersen 13+1, Cameron Woodward 11, Lewis Bridger 8+2, Simon Gustafsson 8+1, Joonas Kylmakorpi 8+1, Timo Lahti 5+1, Lukas Dryml r/r.
BUILDBASE BEES 40: Emil Sayfutdinov 15, Nick Morris 9+1, Piotr Pawlicki 6+1, Przemek Pawlicki 5, Kenni Larsen 3+1, Ryan Fisher 2, Edward Kennett r/r.
beesweb
)
