HAMMERS’ hopes of making the Elite League play-offs hang by a thread after a second successive defeat in two days by Coventry on Saturday.
The Bees were by far the dominant force in this meeting, taking the lead with a maximum 5-1 in the first heat and repeating the feat in the next two races also. Their 15-3 lead set the tone for the meeting in which they won ten of the fifteen races and withstood two tactical attempts from the home side.
Contrast the Hammers, who unfortunately endured their worst home meeting for many a year as they repeatedly struggled to contest the first and second turns on even terms such was Coventry’s superiority from the starting gate.
The home side found themselves using their first tactical ride as early as heat five to much success thanks to an 8-1 from Davey Watt and race winner, guest Rory Schlein. This reduced the deficit to just five points but the respite was short lived as the Bees quickly hit back with consecutive maximums of their own.
The meeting was all but sewed up by heat ten with another Coventry 5-1 from Chris Harris and Michael Jepsen Jensen, leaving a run of shared heats before the home side gained small consolation with a last heat 5-1 of their own.
