GARY Havelock admits the timing of last Friday’s 55-36 defeat at home to Swindon in the Elite League could not have come at a worse time for his depleted Bees side.
Bees went into Friday’s meeting on the back of a 54-35 defeat away at King’s Lynn and were once again without Stuart Robson.
And despite fast-track guest Danny Ayres impressing throughout the meeting, Havelock’s side were down and out by heat 11 and suffered their eighth defeat of the season.
“This meeting came at completely the wrong time for us,” said Havelock.
“At the beginning of the week I did feel that we would be able to cover for Robbo (Robson) with rider-replacement, with Walasek guesting and a fully-fit Jason Garrity, but then when it became clear Jason couldn’t ride because they’d kept him in hospital overnight.
“I must also say I think Danny Ayres surprised everyone, he was excellent, and thanks to him for his efforts.
“We came up against a really good team at the wrong time so we’ve got to re-group, and a lot can change in a few weeks.”
The visitors sent out a strong message of intent with three straight heat advantages in the opening races.
It seemed that Bees’ biggest problem was the lack of race winners, which was stopping them from making any sort of dent on the Robins lead.
And then Aussie duo Darcy Ward and Troy Batchelor added to the pain with the visitors second 5-1 of the night in heat six.
Danny King took a heavy tumble on the third turn which caused concern for Bees’ management after the Brit withdrew from the previous meeting at King’s Lynn.
With the visitors now 12-points down, Havelock put skipper Chris Harris on tactical ride in the following race and the partnership of Harris and Joonas Kylmakorpi came up trumps with a superb gate.
However former Bees rider Nick Morris put the pair under serve pressure, meaning Harris could not get in front of his team-mate for the extra point, which resulted in a 7-1, with the score now 19-25.
That success for the home side was short lived as the Robins got back-to-back maximum heat advantages.
However, Bees suffered their second 5-0 reverse in two meetings after Harris bailed off his machine while chasing Morris and Batchelor in heat 11, while James Sarjeant had previously pulled out of the race.
Bees then looked to put some respectability back on the scorecard as fast-track guest Danny Ayres partnered Sarjeant to a superb 5-1 in heat 12, with the score now 31-42.
But the visitors soon hit back with back-to-back 5-1’s; which cemented their well-deserved victory on the night.
