Tonight both the first leg semi-finals were played out in front of the Sky Sports camera with Wolverhampton taking on Poole, whilst the Bees played host to Peterborough.
Although there was an injury scare at the weekend, Bees reserve Pawlicki was able to take to the track ensuring that Coventry were at full strength but it was Peterborough who gained an early advantage with a 4-2 in the first heat.
Three races later, after two drawn heats, the meeting scores were level at 12 a piece as the Bees duo of Chris Harris and Pawlicki scored a 4-2, but a heat 6 5-1 maximum for Peterborough once again put the Bees onto the back foot.
A drawn heat 7 with Chris Harris leading the way was followed by a Bees maximum 5-1 from Pawlicki and Sweetman to yet again level the scores at 24 points each.
Heats 10 and 11 saw the Bees edge into the overall lead for the first time on the night with two successive 4-2's but Peterborough were not prepared to stop fighting and a 4-2 to them in heat 12 meant that the Bees held a slender 37-35 lead. Oddly enough this was the scoreline at the same point in the meeting in the other semi-final.
An interval team meeting for Coventry had manager Alun Rossiter really firing up the team and this showed an impressive fashion as the Bees scored three successive 5-1 maximum's in the last three heats to end the night victors by 52 points to 38.
The Coventry scores are shown below, and the second leg takes place next Mmonday night at Peterborough again in front of the Sky Sports cameras. The other semi-final finished in a 44.5 draw.
1. Krzysztof Kasprzak - 2, 0, 3, 2', 3 = 10+1
2. Richard Sweetman - 0, 1, 2', 1 = 4+1
3. Ben Barker - 0, 1', 1', 2 = 4+2
4. Edward Kennett - 3, 2, 2, 2' = 9+1
5. Chris Harris - 3, 3, 3, 3, 2' = 14+1 PAID MAXIMUM
6. Lewis Bridger - 3, 0, 1 = 4
7. Przemyslaw Pawlicki - R, 1, 3, R, 3 = 7