COVENTRY were on the wrong end of a 29-60 reversal in their Elite League trip to title favourites Poole on Wednesday.
The Buildbase Bees actually led 14-10 after four races, having provided the winner of three of those heats, but matters then rapidly went downhill.
They then conceded six successive maximum advantages, one of which being a particularly disastrous 5-0 when both Chris Harris and Krzysztof Kasprzak crashed out, and there was no way back from that.
Former Bees rider Hans Andersen again scored heavily for the Pirates, who all contributed to their total, whilst in-form Tier 2 draft reserve Adam Ellis added a paid maximum from four rides.
Kasprzak kept up his winning streak from King’s Lynn last week with a fast victory in Heat 1 over Chris Holder, and Harris was also successful in his opening outing as the Bees notched a couple of early 4-2s.
And a terrific 5-1 in Heat 4 from Josh Bates and Jason Garrity over Krzysztof Buczkowski and Kyle Newman put the visitors into an unexpected four-point lead.
But that was as good as it got, with the events of the sixth race proving especially damaging.
At the first attempt, Harris came to grief on turn four after a battle with Buczkowski, whilst the re-run saw Kasprzak rear on the first bend and hit the fence heavily with the Pirates racing to their gift 5-0 in the second re-run.
The series of home maximums continued until Heat 11, the ninth seeing Brady Kurtz and Ellis both work their way past the Bees duo.
Kasprzak’s tactical ride in Heat 10 was unsuccessful but Harris did end the rout in the next with a late pass on Holder for second place behind race leader Kurtz.
And the visitors managed to share Heats 13 and 15 with Harris winning the former, whilst the latter saw the captain and Jason Garrity come home ahead of Brady Kurtz, although it wasn’t enough to prevent the Pirates from hitting the 60-point barrier for the second time already this season.
Harris said: “I think it was after Heat 6 when I went into the fence and then Krzysztof did in the re-run that the team deflated.
“Our performances are too inconsistent, and it’s not good enough for a club like Coventry to be on the end of an embarrassing score like this.
“There are some signs of some of the boys getting going, but then when one does it’s others who seem to go off – we are too inconsistent up and down. But we will get things sorted.”
