Coventry Bees Speedway Team went down to a 54-40 defeat at Peterborough Panthers on Bank Holiday Monday morning.
The Bees had Rory Schlein and Daniel King guesting and there were several race stoppages required in the early stages, with the Panthers’ Krzysztof Buczkowski falling in Heat 1 right in the path of Schlein, who suffered damage to his finger but carried on in the meeting.
A similar incident in Heat 4 saw Bees captain Ryan Fisher fall when chasing Kacper Gomolski, which also caused his other opponent Troy Batchelor to come to grief.
Fisher, though, won his other two opening races and enjoyed some big battles – first with Linus Sundstrom in Heat 3, with Fisher’s defence of the lead eventually allowing King through into second place for a 5-1, and then in Heat 7 when Fisher and Batchelor enjoyed a spectacular battle, the two passing and re-passing before Fisher ended up on top.
Schlein also showed true commitment when taking a tactical ride in Heat 9 as having been outgated by the Panthers duo he worked his way inside Sundstrom and then around Norbert Kosicuch for a terrific six-point win.
A frantic Heat 10 saw Nicki Pedersen go from third to first whilst his team-mate Buczkowski was disqualified for having both wheels on the grass, whilst Josh Auty gained a fully deserved win in Heat 12 by passing Gomolski on the last lap.
But the Panthers had more strength in depth and with Pedersen leading from the front, Bees’ chances of salvaging a point from the meeting receded in the closing stages.
The second tactical ride also looked set for six points until leader King was impressively overtaken by Linus Sundstrom in Heat 14, and that left Bees needing a 5-1 from the last race to take some reward from the meeting.
However, it was Pedersen and Sundstrom who shot from the start and fended off the early challenge of King, with Schlein retiring on the second lap.
PETERBOROUGH 54: Nicki Pedersen 14, Linus Sundstrom 10+2, Kacper Gomolski 9+2, Troy Batchelor 8+1, Dakota North 5+1, Krzysztof Buczkowski 4+1, Norbert Kosciuch 4+1.
BUILDBASE BEES 40: Daniel King 12+1, Rory Schlein 12, Ryan Fisher 8+1, Josh Auty 6+1, Kenni Larsen 1, James Holder 1, Edward Kennett r/r.