SWINDON suffered a disappointing 44-48 home defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton in Thursday’s Elite League encounter at the Abbey Stadium.

Despite a stunning display from reserve Charles Wright, who piled up paid-17, the M&S Van Rental Robins were second best on the night with a solid Wolves side deserving their win.

Track conditions clearly played their part with the home riders finding the going tough in the first half of the meeting as Wolves raced into a 31-17 lead after eight races.

At that stage, Wright and Jason Doyle were the Robins’ only winners, and even Doyle had been on the end of a 5-1 reverse in Heat 1 at the hands of Joonas Kylmakorpi and Sam Masters.

Swindon improved after a grading break, and they did have chances to get back into the meeting after Josh Grajczonek and Nick Morris combined for maximum points in Heat 10.

But Doyle’s tactical ride in Heat 11 saw him limited to four points for second place as Jacob Thorssell made a flying start, and Mikkel Bech vitally split Doyle and Morris in Heat 13.

That left the Robins needing two 5-1s to complete the most unlikely of comebacks, but Wolves skipper Freddie Lindgren ended those hopes with a classy third-to-first move on the first lap of Heat 14 to secure the win for his side.

Swindon boss Alun Rossiter said: “It was very disappointing, and unfortunately we were beaten by the track. It always ends up working against the home team when things are like that, and although we fought back strongly it was too little, too late.

“There were a lot of ruts after the downpours we’ve had, and when you go into the bends you’re just not in control of the bike, and the boys were pretty upset by it all.

“Paid-17 from Charles was first-class, he got stuck in and did a fantastic job, but unfortunately it didn’t really suit the rest of the team. We have to knuckle down and turn things around against Belle Vue next week.”

ELITE LEAGUE
SWINDON 44: Charles Wright 15+2, Jason Doyle 14, Josh Grajczonek 8+1, Nick Morris 4, Justin Sedgmen 2, Stefan Nielsen 1+1, Rohan Tungate 0
WOLVERHAMPTON 48: Fredrik Lindgren 10, Kyle Howarth 9+1, Sam Masters 8+1, Jacob Thorssell 7+1, Joonas Kylmakorpi 6+1, Mikkel Bech 6, Ashley Morris 2+2
Elite League points: Swindon 0 Wolverhampton 3