SPEEDWAY: NEW Coventry Bees boss Jim Lynch believes his short time away from speedway will not hinder has chances of delivering a winning team at Brandon after being confirmed as Gary Havelock’s replacement.
Lynch was revealed as the new team manager of the Bees last week and has already started making plans for the newly revamped SGB Premiership season.
His appointment follows Havelock’s decision to leave the Bees last month after four years in charge to join Championship club Berwick as part of a new consortium.
The new Bees boss is no stranger to Brandon having supported the club for around 20 years before becoming involved with the sport professionally.
Lynch has previous managerial experience with Peterborough where he won titles at both Premier and Elite League levels, before almost repeating the feat with Reading in 2006, missing out in one of the all-time classic Grand Finals.
His most recent stint in management was with Belle Vue four years ago and he is looking forward to guiding the Bees to success in the near future.
“I’m really looking forward to it, more-so because of it being Coventry,” said Lynch.
“I’ve always got on well with the people at Coventry, and in fairness when Mick (Horton) approached me it was probably the only place I would have done it.
“I didn’t really have to think much about it, it was just a case of setting out the way we both wanted things to be done, and there haven’t been any issues in any of our discussions.
“I don’t see being out for a few years as a problem, I haven’t been out of it that long and speedway really doesn’t change much, be it with riders or promoters.
“In fact, I’ve come back at a time when certain rules such as the race format have reverted back to when I was doing it before, and if anything some of the regulations which came in over the last two or three years didn’t make the manager’s job that easy.
“I’m very enthusiastic to get started, I know the Coventry fans want success and that’s what we’ll be looking to deliver.”
Discussions between Lynch and Horton have already been held over possible options for team-building in the wake of the latest BSPA AGM, which saw a 50-point limit imposed on top-flight teams.
And Horton is looking forward to resuming a working relationship with Lynch which dates right back to the early days of the Elite League when they were part of the same consortium in charge at Peterborough.
Horton added: “Jim is experienced and knowledgeable, and he has a lot of respect from riders. We had some applications, but the more I thought about it the more I felt this would be right for the club.
“Even when I was running Peterborough I knew he always had a soft spot for Coventry, as they were both his local clubs. We got together to sort out the deal and we’re both very happy.
“My job now is to build the team, we’ve got an idea who we want, and naturally we want a team that’s going to compete at the top.”
