Bees were not helped by the fact that Scott Nicholls missed his first two rides after being delayed on the M25 en route to the meeting. This meeting marked the end of Nicholls's original 28 day stay with Bees and with Olly Allen fit again there may well be a re-declaration of the side very shortly.
Swindon54, Bees 49.
Elite League 'B'
Bees were without Ricky Wells and Josh Auty and tracked Klaus Jakobsen and Richard Lawson from Workington. The home side were missing Jurica Pavlic who is under suspension for missing the meeting at Brandon the previous Friday. They operated rider-replacement.
With Nicholls having yet to arrive at the stadium, Jakobsen was brought into heat one. He finished last but Filip Sitera rode a good race to finish second ahead of Travis McGowan.
It was no surprise when the reserves were on the wrong of a 5-1 in the next.
In a tight turn two Rory Schlein and Edward Kennett emerged ahead to post Bees own 5-1 in heat three and leave them just two behind.
Bees were at the back in heat four before Paul Hurry fell on turn four, causing the race to be rerun. In the rerun it looked as if Matej Zager was going to keep up his unbeaten run against Bees but a good burst of speed coming off the last turn at the end of lap one gave Chris Harris the lead. With Hurry out of the race the resulting Bees 4-2 brought the scores level.
With still no sign of Nicholls, Sitera was left to contest heat five alone and despite a good effort was no match for Simon Stead and Ryan Fisher.
Leigh Adams won his second race of the night in heat six with Harris second. McGowan got the better of Lawson to stretch the home lead to six.
Zagar won a shared heat seven before an eventful heat eight went against Bees. The Swindon pair gated but Sitera rode a good turn two to take the lead. The race was stopped after Ryan Fisher fell and in the rerun McGowan grabbed his second chance and led from start to finish.
Harris won heat nine and in the next Schlein led before Adams shot by at the end of the lap. Kennett kept the race points level when he took third place from McGowan on lap three.
Nicholls had now arrived and took his place in heat ten. Any thoughts of him being Bees saviour ended when he missed the start and spent most of the race trying to get by Sitera, leaving Zagar and Hurry to cruise home for maximum points and put the Robins ten points ahead.
Kennett was given a tactical ride in heat eleven. He led from the start to take the six points. Unfortunately partner Lawson could not add to this so the home lead remained at seven.
A heat thirteen maximum ensured the Robins of the match points.
There was still the extra point to ride for but despite Schlein winning heat fourteen his three points were not enough and Swindon finished it off with a final heat 5-1 to make the final score 54-39.
Going on Bees past performances at Blunsden, this was not too bad and it was only in the latter stages that they fell away and the final score probably slightly flattered the home side. Once again Bees weakness at reserve was a telling factor and it is hoped that this will rectified in the near future. Schlein, Kennett and Harris all gave of their best but just two points from Nicholls's two rides were not what was expected from him.
Bee's scorer's; Kennett 10(3), Schlein 10, Harris 9, Sitera 5, Jakobsen 3(1), Nicholls 2, Lawson 0.
British GP, Cardiff.
Five coach loads of Bees fans made the now annual trip to Wales for Britain's biggest event of the year. With three Bees riders competing they had plenty to cheer.
Chris Harris turned out the most successful, reaching the semi-final stage before being excluded for bringing down Hans Andersen on turn two. In his opening ride he first unsuccessfully tried the outside line before switching back to the inside and passing Leigh Adams at the end of the second lap.
He then took another second in a heat five which turned to be the talking point of the whole evening.
With four points in the bag he looked well on for a semi place but in heat twelve, on paper his easiest ride of the night, he missed the start and trailed in behind Rune Holta, Andreas Jonsson and Greg Hancock.
He redeemed himself in his next ride, finishing behind Tomasz Gollob but leading home reigning champion Nicki Pedersen and the unbeaten up until then, Hans Andersen.
He needed a win to be sure in his last ride and led from the start to secure his place.
Nicholls is the one who made the headlines however, but not for the right reasons. After a last in heat one he battled it out with the Russian Emil Sayfutdinov in heat five and passed him for third place on the final turn. It looked a routine move but the Russian took exception and exchanged words with Nicholls on the back straight. The pair then came to blows after Nicholls had been knocked off his bike by the pits gate. Another scuffle started in the pits and afterwards the pair were both fined after appearing before the race jury. Sayfutdinov was fined £350 while the affray set Nicholls back £300.
He took another third in heat ten before coming out and winning heat fifteen. Third place in his last ride once again left him down the field.
Kennett started promisingly with three points from his first two rides but could only manage one from his last three.
The meeting was won by Jason Crump with a full twenty-four point score. Fredrik Lindgren was second and Greg Hancock third.
With the series less than halfway through, it appears that barring injury, Crump has the title in his grasp. With no one coming from the chasing pack to mount a serious challenge his win on Saturday more than doubled his overall lead.
Latest standings; Crump 98 points, Sayfutdinov 67, Hancock 59. Harris has 30 points and Nicholls 17.
Preview.
Tomorrow night Bees host Peterborough for the third time this season. Bees have already beaten the Panthers at Brandon in the K.O. Cup and the Elite League's' match, so will be hoping to complete the hat trick.
Bees have yet to announce their team, but whatever the composition they will need to be on form to beat a team who are putting in a strong challenge for a play-off place. The Peterborough team consists of six Danes and a rider from the Czech Republic. Their top three are Niels Kristian Iversen, Kenneth Bjerre and Mads Korneliussen. They have recently re signed Ales Dryml after originally releasing him earlier in the season.
A good contest is in prospect and the meeting starts at the usual time of 8.00 p.m.