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Swindon Robins 55 Coventry Bees 35: Meeting report

Alun Rossiter's Swindon Robins speedway side got their season at the Abbey off to a flying start after stinging Coventry Bees and racing to a commanding 55-35 Elite League victory. Total Sport's Ryan Walker was on hand to recount the action.

After suffering a disappointing 61-31 opening away defeat to the reigning champions Poole Pirates last week, a positive response from the Swindon Robins in their first home meeting of the season was much needed. And, with Australian talent racing throughout the spine of the team, the Robins bounced back in style beating the Coventry Bees by 20 points with a final score of 55-35.

Too much shale on the track in the opening heats of the night saw the Wiltshire club get off to a slow start, with Coventry taking the upper hand after guest rider Hans Andersen raced to his only win of the night in heat one. But with team manager Alun Rossiter urging his men on, Josh Grajczonek and Nick Morris responded in typical fighting fashion by earning the Robins their first of four 5-1 heat maximums of the night in heat three.

A re-grading of the track after heat 4 to remove some of the rocks on paid dividends for the Robins riders, taking three 4-2 heat wins out of their next four races to give the Swindon Robins a comfortable halfway lead of 28-20.

However with Gary Havelock’s men determined to put up a fight, the Coventry Bees responded with a fantastic 5-1 win in heat nine as Kacper Woryna and guest reserve rider Adam Ellis outclassed Stefan Nielsen and Justin Sedgmen to close the points gap to just four points on the night with a score of 29-25.

With such a young Swindon squad many were expecting a nervous ending as the Robins went in search of their first Elite League victory of the year, but any doubt was soon cast away as fan favourite Nick Morris and new-boy Josh Grajczonek showed their skills racing to a thrilling 5-1 in Heat 10 to all but end Coventry’s comeback hopes.

A powerful response from the Robins was much needed and with Swindon skipper and world number five Jason Doyle once again displaying his immense racing talent, riding to an impressive 14 points on the night along with Josh Grajczonek and Nick Morris racing to paid double digit scores, Alun Rossiter’s men will once again have their belief back. And if this exhilarating performance was anything to go by then Swindon Robins fans are in for an exciting, hard-racing and hopefully successful 2016 Speedway Elite League season.

Rider Scores:

Swindon Robins: 55

1. Jason Doyle - 2,3,3,3,3 = 14

2. Justin Sedgmen - 0,1,0,1 = 2

3. Josh Grajczonek - 3,2,2*,3,2* = 12+2

4. Rohan Tungate - 2,1*,1,1 = 5+1

5. Nick Morris - 2*,1,3,2* = 8+2

6. Stefan Nielsen - 1*,3,1,1* = 6+2

7. Charles Wright - 2,1*,3,2 = 8+1

Coventry Bees: 35

1. Hans Andersen (Guest) - 3,0,1,R = 4

2. Jason Garrity - 1,2,2,0 = 5