Following on from the super win away at Swindon the Bees took to the Brandon shale in an Elite league match against the Ipswich Witches who tracked former Bees favourite Scott Nicholls in their side.
With the newly signed Pole Pawlicki not able to take part in tonights meeting, which has caused some angst with Bees team manager Alun Rossiter, in came Arron Summers as a replacement.
The meeting began with a shared first heat with Ben Barker leading the way ahead of both Scott Nicholls and Chris Harris, but the Bees got into their stride with a couple of 4-2's over the next 2 heats. A couple of drawn heats followed before three successive 4-2 heats for the Bees stretched the lead out to 10 points.
Immediately the Witches team manager went for a tactical ride which was duly won, but the Bees pairing secured the minor placings to ensure that the lead was only reduced by 3 points.
After the interval Rory Schlein led the way against Nicholls to help the Bees extend the lead before heat 13 caused some controversy. The Witches support would say that Nicholls was sandwiched between both the Bees riders at the first corner and fell, his bike suffering what looked like extensive damage. Rather than call all 4 riders back for the restart the referee excluded Nicholls, leaving the Bees with a comfortable race to secure a maximum 5-1 advantage and the win on the night.
The final score after the 15 heats was Coventry 50 Ipswich 44 with the Bees scorers as follows:
1. Chris Harris .............0,3,1*,2*
2. Ben Barker ...............3,1,3,2
3. Eddie Kennett .........3,3,2,3,0
4. Aaron Summers ........1,0,1*,0
5. Rory Schlein ............2,3,3,3,1
6. Richard Sweetman ......3,3,1,1,2
7. Filip Sitera .................1,1*,1,0