MATCH REPORT: East Park brush aside Coventry
Coventry 71-107 East Park, Sunday 20th April, Midland League Division 1.
Coventry suffered their second home defeat of the season at the hands of East Park on Easter Sunday in a meeting containing passing of plenty.
East Park fielded a strong side which included Elite League riders Jamie Ball and Matt Smith. Talented youngsters Brandon & Jamie Whetton as well as talented local youngster Lee Kemp.
Despite the tough task, Coventry made a solid start as Myke Grimes took the win in heat 1. East Park’s Brandon Whetton then impressively beat Polish superstar Konrad Pietak in heat 2 as the visitors secured back to back 6-4’s.
Grimes continued his solid form in heat 4 with a second win, though Charlie Barnett, on senior team debut, finished 4th resulting in a shared heat. Despite Coventry’s impressive start, East Park’s quality then shone through as consecutive 7-3’s put the Wolverhampton club in front by 36 points to Coventry’s 29 – Dave Frith withdrew from the meeting with a leg injury.
In heat 7 Matt Smith then took a heavy fall in what was, from the majorities view, a racing incident. Despite this Smith firstly put his thoughts to the referee and then to Grimes, the rider Smith was attempting to overtake, in the pits. Grimes was confirmed the winner with Kemp second and Smith finishing third after Mason Phillips took a heavy fall down the back straight of lap 1.
Two shared 5-5’s meant Coventry trailed by only 11 points at the half way stage. In the second half of the meeting however, East Park stamped their authority on the meeting with three successive 7-3’s from heat 12 through to heat 14. Konrad Pietak managed to earn himself a second heat win of the afternoon for himself in heat 15 and Myke Grimes completed a near faultless performance in heat 17 – only a fall in his fourth ride denied the Coventry based man a maximum.
In the final heat, both Jamie Ball and Matt smith paired up for an East Park 7-3 in what was an impressive display by the Wolves and fires out messages to their Midland League rivals including Wednesfield and Leicester.
Coventry 71: Myke Grimes 17, Konrad Pietak 16, Kyle Roberts 10, Kelvin Williams 7, Mason Phillips 7, Charlie Barnett 5, Joe McLaughlin 5, Dave Frith 4
East Park 107: Jamie Ball 18, Brandon Whetton 17, Jack Hibberd 15, David Ball 12, Lee Kemp 15, Matt Smith 14, Jamie Whetton 11, Will Cartwright 5
In the second team match Coventry couldn’t quite replicate their impressive away victory at Bretford against East Park on Easter Sunday as they suffered a 19 point defeat against the Wolverhampton based club.
Coventry made an impressive start to the meeting as two shared 5-5’s was followed by a 6-4, in favour to East Park. The home side though took the lead through the pairing of Shaun Reynolds and Josh Marsh – a partnership that has worked well for Coventry in recent years.
Unfortunately this was to be the only time Coventry led as East Parks dominance shone through. First team members Lee Kemp, Brandon Whetton and Will Cartwright proved to be much faster on track than the Coventry team members, some of which had only been riding for a handful of months.
There were positives for Sammie Marsh as she picked up 8 points and Jack Bayliss also impressed. In the challenge fixture Coventry lost 44-81, though took away a morale victory.
Josh Walters rode brilliantly against some of East Parks first team members to pick up 8 very impressive points whilst Harley Webb put in the maximum 100% effort required. Sam Slatter was another who held his head up high in a fixture that saw 10 year olds compete against riders six years their senior.