BEES slipped to a 22-36 defeat to reigning Elite League champions Poole in a rain effected meeting at Brandon on Monday night, writes Robin Allen.
In the first race of the night visiting number one Chris Holder got the better of Bees’ Hans Andersen on the back-straight while Stuart Robson fended off the challenge of Davey Watt for third for a shared heat.
And with rain in the air Bees’ knew they needed to get points on the board early on.
However, Jason Garrity was that eager to get a good start he broke the tapes in heat two, which meant he started off a 15-metre handicap in rerun.
Garrity’s mistake played straight into Pirates hands as Kyle Newman and Paul Starke flew from the gate ahead of the home pairing for a 5-1 with the score 4-8.
Bees’ bounced back in superb style in the following race as Joonas Kylmakorpi romped home for the win while skipper Chris Harris secured second place for 5-1 bringing the scores level.
Fast-track reserve Garrity continued his luckless night in heat five when he made a flying start only to be pulled back by referee Christina Turnbull. And as luck would have it the young Brit’ missed the start as Pirates slammed home another 5-1 putting them 13-17 in front.
Despite cutting the lead to two points Bees’ fortunes worsened in heat eight when Garrity was excluded after taking a tumble in first turn while Danny King suffered a engine failure in the rerun resulting in a Poole 5-0.
Garrity was back in the spotlight in following race as he was excluded for causing his team-mate Robson to crash into Newman in the first turn. Pirates then eased to a 4-2 in the rerun putting them 11 points up.
However, the meeting ended in farcical scenes with Bees’ duo Kylmakorpi and Harris refusing to take their place for heat ten, believing the meeting should be a abandoned.
But meeting officials stood firm and Pirates’ duo Holder and Watt eased to a second 5-0. And as ten heats had been completed the meeting was officially abandoned handing the visitors their second win at Brandon this season.
