SWINDON made a dream start to their home Elite League campaign with an empathic 55-35 win over Coventry at the Abbey on Thursday.

Alun Rossiter’s men quickly hit back from their Good Friday defeat at Poole, and a powerful all-round show saw them run just two last places all evening.

The Bees kept things relatively close in the first half of the meeting, helped by an inspired performance from guest reserve Adam Ellis, but after leading by just four points after Heat 9, the M&S Van Rental Robins stretched well clear over the closing heats.

Skipper Jason Doyle dropped his only point of the night to Hans Andersen in Heat 1 before reeling off four race wins, whilst Josh Grajczonek was also paid for 14 points.

Gracjzonek pulled off one of the moves of the night by rounding Andersen for second place in Heat 10 to partner Nick Morris to a 5-1, and Morris himself was always in the thick of the action, starting his meeting with a battling effort to overcome Danny King and Chris Harris in Heat 3.

The Robins also had plenty of strength at reserve as Stefan Nielsen impressively won Heat 5 over Jason Garrity, whilst Charles Wright overhauled Garrity in Heat 8 on his way to a paid-nine total.

Ellis’s third win of the night in Heat 12 kept the Bees in with a chance of a league point, but Swindon finished in top form with two 5-1s and a 4-2 in the last three races to increase the margin to 20 points.

Rossiter said: “I didn’t expect to win by that many, but I’m really pleased. The boys showed they’re racers, and they’re still bedding in.

“It’s still early days, it’s only our second meeting together properly as a team so it’s only going to get better, but I was very happy with that performance.

“We avoided last places, which was important, and we probably would have won by more if they hadn’t had Adam Ellis in fairness.

“Josh rode really well, the reserves impressed me and there’s more to come there, and you also saw how the crowd reacted to having an out-and-out No.1 in Doyley. We’ve never really had that since
Leigh Adams, apart from the spell with Darcy (Ward) last year, and now we have that again.”

Swindon now face home and away clashes with Wolverhampton, as they travel to Monmore Green on Monday before hosting the Black Country side next Thursday (April 7).

SWINDON 55: Jason Doyle 14, Josh Grajczonek 12+2, Nick Morris 8+2, Charles Wright 8+1, Stefan Nielsen 6+2, Rohan Tungate 5+1, Justin Sedgmen 2

COVENTRY 35: Adam Ellis 11+1, Chris Harris 7, Danny King 5, Jason Garrity 5, Hans Andersen 4, Kacper Woryna 3, Danny Ayres 0

Elite League points: Swindon 3 Coventry 0