Coventry Bees taste first defeat of the season - The Rugby Observer

Coventry Bees taste first defeat of the season

Rugby Editorial 16th Apr, 2015 Updated: 27th Oct, 2016   0

BEES suffered their first defeat of the season as Elite League defending champions Poole put on a ruthless display to come out 41-48 winners in front of a bumper crowd at Brandon.

Things did not start well for the home side last Friday as they conceded three 5-1’s inside the opening four heats. That said though, Bees skipper Chris Harris was the victim of a controversial exclusion in heat three after he blasted up the inside of Maciej Janowski going into the third bend with the Pirates rider taking a heavy tumble into the air fence.

The referee Jim Lawrence saw that Harris caused the crash and awarded a 5-1 to the visitors.

Bees responded with back-to-back heat advantages in heats six and seven with Danny King and Joonas Kylmakorpi striking up an excellent middle order partnership with a great 5-1.




And in the following race Harris and Andersen managed to cut the deficit to six points with the score 18-24.

However, Poole showed they were in total control of the meeting as they scored heat advantages at vital times taking the tie further and further away from the hosts.


In heat 12 there was another controversial incident when Bees pair Jason Garrity and James Sarjeant clashed with Kyle Newman going into the third turn with Sarjeant and Newman falling and Garrity was excluded to the disbelief of the home crowd.

Sarjeant showed no ill effects in the rerun as he made an excellent gate and held Newman off well for the win which proved a great scalp for the Yorkshireman.

There were bizarre scenes in the following race as Poole’s Chris Holder slid off on the first turn and Hans Andersen’s bike broke down while he was leading in the same lap, leaving Harris and North to have a match race for win with Bees captain coming out on top.

Another 5-1 from King and Kylmakorpi in heat 14 meant the Bees could still stop Poole from taking maximum points back to Dorset with another 5-1 in the final race.

But their chances were literally blown apart in heat 15 as Harris’s bike blew up before the race began meaning he went off a 15 metre handicap.

‘Bomber’ did not give up though as he overtook Poole guest Rory Schlein and teammate Joonas Kylmakorpi but could not catch North out in front.

Bees star Joonas Kylmakorpi looks for the opposition. (s) Photo by Chris Simpson

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