In a Sky televised meeting, the Coventry Bees played host to the Birmingham Brummies who tracked a number of former Bees riders in their line-up. The Bees had Kenny Larsson back in the side and had hopes of gaining ground on those above them in the Elite league table.
The meeting started well for the Bees who led 11-7 after the 3rd heat but there were worrying signs by this time that the Brummies gating was much sharper than the Bees, who were showing their racing qualities to gain the advantage.
The Brummies pulled two points back in the next heat and went into the lead after a heat 7 maximum win with former Bee Ben Barker team riding Danny King to shut out the hard charging Scott Nicholls.
Heats 8 & 9 were shared before the Bees went further behind in heat 10 by being on the wrong end of another maximum win.
Scott Nicholls led the way in heat 11 with Adam Roynon gaining the vital 3rd place for a Bees 4-2, leaving them 4 points down with 4 heats remaining.
A drawn heat 12 was followed by an eventful heat 13 which saw a horrible crash for Scott Nicholls resulting in what is suspected to be a broken collarbone. Scott was chasing down leader Bjarnne Pedersen and was almost, but not quite, alongside him going into the 3rd lap when the footrest of Pedersen caught in Scotts front wheel, stripping the spokes and sending Scott head over the bike at full speed and ultimately into the air fence. The referee adjudged that Scott was the cause of the incident despite the fact that he had nowhere to go, and it could be argued that Pedersen could've given him room, but the re-rum took place with only one Bees rider and the Brummies 5-1 effectively sealed the victory on the night.
The Bees miserable night was completed when Eddie Kennett suffered an engine failure whilst chasing the leader in heat 15 and a 40 points to 50 home defeat was recorded for the Bees.
Tonights scorers were: