MATCH REPORT: Sabres edge Hammers

Report by Myke Grimes, Photos by Paul Devine

Coventry XL Motors Sabres edged another tight Hearsall Common encounter against Horspath Hammers (Oxford) on Sunday

With neither side giving much away throughout, 11 of the 18 races were shared, plus a Hammers 5-4 with Matt Lawrence gaining an exclusion following a crash which ruled him out of the meeting and earned him a trip to hospital.

A heat two 6-4 plus the aforementioned 5-4 gave the Hammers a three point advantage, which lasted most of the first half, but that was converted to a one point lead for Coventry after a Cameron Gill and Dominik Rycharski 7-3.

The Sabres held their slim advantage for three more races until Nowacki and Jeffery duly reinstated the Hammers 3 point lead; only for Grimes and Barlow to strike straight back with their own maximum heat advantage in the following heat.

Homegrown hero Tom Savage’s match winning display earned the Sabres a crucial 5-5 in heat 14. But the Hammers flipped the scales once again in heat 16, taking a 6-4 thanks to Neighbour and Jeffery.

The Hammers went into the final race one point up, but sadly the drama was short lived as the two Horspath riders came to grief on the first bend and didn’t remount, giving the Sabres a 91-85 win at the death.