Last night the Coventry Bees travelled to Purfleet to take on the Lakeside Hammers in a crucial Elite league match, with the Bees without kenny Larsen due to international commitments so rider replacement would cover his programmed rides.
Five heats into the meeting the Bees were 8 points in arrears as Emil Sayfutinov struggled in his first 2 rides on his first visit to Purfleet.
However Heat 6 saw the first race advantage for the Bees and the tide of the match started to turn, as two more 4-2's for the Bees in the following 3 heats brought the match score down to to 2 points after heat 9.
With Edward Kennett in superb form on the night the Bees levelled the score at 36 points each after heat 12, which was folowed by a massive Bees 5-1 in heat 13 as Edward Kennett continued his way to a full 15 point maximum by leading the way followed by Emil Sayfutinov who had now adapted to the track.
So the Bees were now 4 points up with 2 heats to go, and the away victory, and the valuable 3 points, were sealed in heat 14 when Pawlicki and Morris brought home a 4-2 heat win.
The final match score was Lakeside 42 Coventry 48, with the riders scores shown below. This win now puts the Bees 1 point behind 4th placed Lakeside with 6 matches remaining.