Coventry Bees Speedway Team were well beaten 56-34 at Poole in an Elite Shield First Leg.
The Bees had to use rider replacement for Krzysztof Kasprzak who was still receiving treatment following his crash at King’s Lynn in the Ben Fund Bonanza last weekend but were able to field Chris Harris and Danny King against a Poole side which included former Bees rider Hans Andersen.
The Bees took the opening heat 4-2 before Bates and Sarjeant raced to a 3-3.
Chris Harris, then won in a 5-1 with Poole taking the next heat by the same score and heat's five and six 4-2 to see the Bees 19-17 down.
Two 5-1's and a 4-2 meant that the Bees were now twelve points down, so Danny King had the rider replacement ride and won in a 3-3.
After the interval, there was more punishment for the Bees who suffered two 5-1 heat losses.
Chris Harris won in a 3-3 in heat thirteen but Hans Anderson won in the next heat to take a 4-2 heat win and get a paid maximum from four rides.
Harris and Kacper Woryna rode in the final heat against Holder and Andersen who was disqualified after bringing down Worna. Holder beat Harris to win the heat and Woryna finished third but the Bees went down to a 56-34 defeat.
The second leg is at Brandon on Friday.