SPEEDWAY by Alan Goodman

Coventry Buildbase Bees picked up their first away point of the season after holding King’s Lynn to two points in a close contest. This was not without cost however, as Bees look to be without Kacper Woryna after a nasty heat fourteen incident left him needing an operation after receiving serious hand injuries.

Friday’s National League match with Birmingham was called off early in the day due to heavy rain flooding the track. A new date has yet to be arranged.

King’s Lynn 46, Bees 44.

This was always going to be close, as both sides went into the match on the back of dismal early season results.

Bees were at full strength while their hosts included GP rider Niels Kristian Iversen, who was on a short contract to replace the injured Troy Batchelor.

Krzysztof Kasprzak won the opening heat with Jason Garrity working his way into third to give Bees an early lead.

It did not last as the home reserves took advantage of an early Josh Bates mistake to take maximum points.

Danny King just held out Rory Schlein to win heat three but with Chris Harris at the back Bees still trailed.

Kacper Woryna made the start to heat four, but lost out to both home riders on the second turn. Lynn now led by six points.

Garrity won a hectic heat five before Kasprzak and Harris brought Bees back into the reckoning with a heat six max.

Unfortunately Iversen and Lambert outgated King in the next to recover the six-point lead.

Mads Korneliussen won a shared heat eight to leave the score at 27-21 at the halfway stage.

Heat nine was also shared before Kasprzak took his third race win in heat ten. Garrity took third place from Lambert on lap two to pull two points back.

Harris took advantage of a home mix-up to take the lead in heat eleven. Unfortunately Iversen regained the lead and it got worse for Bees when King fell.

Bates won heat twelve with Sarjeant getting by Carl Wilkinson for second place and restore Bees hopes of victory.

A chance to draw level was lost in heat thirteen when Harris was beaten for third on the line by Lambert.

A nasty incident on the first turn of the penultimate race cast a cloud over the whole meeting. Woryna got into trouble and was hit by Schlein, who took a nasty tumble. Unable to miss the carnage King also took a fall. Both Schlein (shoulder) and Woryna (hand) were taken by ambulance to hospital.

When the race finally got underway again, Korneliussen and Wilkinson took a 4-2 over Bates.

This left Bees needing a maximum to draw the match and although Kasprzak completed a fine fifteen-point maximum, Harris again lost out to Lambert.

This made the final score 46-44 to King’s Lynn although Bees take one League point for finishing within six points of their hosts.

This was a better performance by Bees but they must now be looking for temporary cover for Woryna.

Bees’ scorers: Kasprzak 15, Garrity 7, Bates 6(1), Harris 5(1), Sarjeant 4(2), King 4, Woryna 3.

Bees reserve Josh Bates became British Under-21 Champion for the second time in his career on Thursday.

Despite riding on his own Premier League track in Sheffield, he recorded eleven points in the qualifying rounds, leaving him just short of one of the two automatic final places. He won the semi-final and then went on to take advantage of a mix-up on the first turn by automatic finalists Robert Lambert and Adam Ellis and take the trophy he last won in 2004.

He now gets one of the British nominations for the World Under 21 Champs and will travel to Pocking in Germany for his semi-final.

Preview

Bees face Elite League favourites Poole twice this week. They should have ridden at Poole last night (Wednesday) and face the Pirates tomorrow night (Friday) at Brandon, with a 7.30 pm start.

Bees will be looking for revenge over a team who have already done the Elite Shield double over them. The Pirates have a strong side again this year with Chris Holder, Krzysztof Buczkowski, Davey Watt and former Bee Hans Andersen leading the side.