From the outset the best 2 teams in the league this year showed why with some very tough and close racing.
An initial 4-2 for the Robins was cancelled out in style by the Bees reserve pairing of Janniro and Johnston in heat 2 with a 5-1 vistory for the Bees. A Swindon 4-2 in heat 3 brought the scores level and thereafter the Robins pulled out a 6 point lead by heat 9.
Some great riding by Rory Schleien in the next 2 heats helped the Bees get on their way and by the end of heat 11 both teams were level at 33 points a piece.
By this time in the meeting Billy Janniro had had to retire due to an injury following a fall in his previous outing.
Suddenly the Robins stepped up their starts and scored 2 big 5-1 maximum heat victories, and held an 8 point advantage with 2 heats to go.
Much to the Sky TV presenters delight the Bees team manager Peter Oakes elected to put in Bomber Harris into heat 14 as a tactical substitute. This meant that Bomber would score double points if he finished ahead of a Robins rider, but more importantly he started off a 15 metre handicap!
A tremedous start by Bomber saw him into 3rd at the end of lap 1, and by the end of the second lap he was 2nd! Bomber got very close a couple of times to Chrzanowski but alas he needed one more lap to get past, the chequered flag falling to indicate a shared 4-4 heat.
If this wasn't drama enough the final heat had the Robins unbeaten captain Leigh Adams and team mate Lee Richardson up against Scott Nicholls and Bomber Harris.
At the start Bomber managed to clamp Adams down on the inside as Scott set after Richardson, the two of them side by side along the back straight with Scott holding the inside advantage.
As both riders went into turn 3 Richardson appeared to go into the corner a bit too fast and go down, but it still took the Sky replays to confirm to the referee that there was no contact from Scott. This meant an exclusion for Richardson so it was left to Leigh Adams to fight it out with the Bees duo to preserve the Robins 8 point advantage.
However just on cue Scott managed to again clamp Adams down on the inside at the start leaving Bomber the freedom to get a great run around the outside of the first bend to set himself on his way for the heat 15 victory.
Adams managed to get past Scott but try as he might he just couldn't close in enough on Bomber, so the heat 15 4-2 meant that the Robins hold a 6 point advantage going into next mondays 2nd leg of the final.
At the end both teams were happy with their nights work, and with how they both rode tonight it is still too close to call as to who are going to be crowned 2007 Elite League champions.