SWINDON Robins chief Alun Rossiter was delighted the rest of his riders had the stomach for the fight after captain Troy Batchelor turned up at the Abbey Stadium waylaid by food poisoning.

A host of stirring individual performances combined to see the Robins to an impressive victory over Elite League table-toppers Coventry Bees, and all without any meaningful contributions from the ailing Batchelor.

Rossiter confirmed that he would have drafted in a replacement for the Australian ace had he made him aware of his illness before the meeting but was the silver lining for the Swindon manager was the strength-in-depth displayed by the rest of his charges.

“I’m a bit disappointed with Troy. I wish I’d known he was ill before the meet. I didn’t know he had food poisoning.

“A meeting of this magnitude; you can’t afford to carry people like that.

“I would have got someone in for RR (rider replacement). We carried Troy. Imagine if we didn’t have to carry him. So that just bodes well.”

Guest Dakota North was just one of a number of home riders putting in sparkling performances and his final heat victory came after he was knocked into the barriers by Coventry’s Jason Garrity in heat 14, a move that far from impressed Rossiter.

He said: “There was no malice but just enough to knock him off balance. He knew what he was doing but that’s life.”

Swindon Advertiser:
Coventry’s Danny King sandwiched between Robins Grzegorz Zengota and Lewis Rose

The Bees’ James Sarjeant and Garrity struck the first significant blow of the meeting with a maximum in the second heat of the night but North took victory in the next race to hit back, with Batchelor struggling as he passed up the chance to finish second.

After Kyle Howarth’s win in heat five briefly restored parity, the scoreline was locked in a two-point deficit, with the visitors maintaining their lead through four successive drawn heats.

Grzegorz Zengota clinched a fine victory in heat eight before a moment of magic from Howarth kept the home side in with a shout in heat nine.

Things looked ominous as Sarjeant and Danny King moved into a dominant position but from nowhere, youngster Howarth shot forward like a man possessed and rescued a share of the spoils for Swindon.

The points gap remained at two after heat 11 but the landscape had finally shifted dramatically as the hosts led for the first time on the night following a stirring 5-1 from the in-form Nick Morris and Howarth.

Morris’ stellar season continued as he crossed the line first whilst Howarth won a thrilling battle with visiting captain Chris Harris to seal the maximum.

Another victory in the next race helped the Robins move further ahead, even if all the laps weren’t completed.

Charles Wright rode sublimely to put himself on-course for a heat victory whilst Lewis Rose was supporting valiantly in third-place and after Sarjeant came off his bike as he attempted to make up for an earlier 15-metre penalty, referee Mike Posselwhite awarded the result to Swindon.

There was brief concern for Coventry’s Andersen as he suffered a nasty-looking fall after clipping the rear of Morris in heat 13 but the Danish rider was eventually up on his feet after plummeting head-first, although he was left sporting a broken finger.

Swindon Advertiser:
Kyle Howarth win heat nine with a nice move on James Sarjeant

Morris maintained Swindon’s second wind by reaching the chequered flag fastest in the re-run whilst the Bees’ Garrity was disqualified from the penultimate heat of the meet for bumping North into the barriers.

The Poole Pirates man showed no ill-effects in the re-run as he and Zengota sealed the Robins’ victory in style with a seemingly faultless maximum.

But there was a last hurrah for Coventry as they emphatically sealed a losing point, King and Harris shutting down Morris and Howarth to claim the final 5-1 of the meeting.

Rossiter added: “I’m pleased with the team and the way they’re pulling together and working together. I thought Zengota was outstanding and Dak (North) was brilliant, and Kyle Howarth and Nick Morris.

“Even the two reserves - when it was important, they pulled it out of the bag for me.

“All in all, it was a great team performance once again. We started a bit slow and the track wasn’t really to our liking. It was a bit warm and the cameras didn’t want any dust, so it was a bit heavier than normal.”

Reduced ticket prices led to a bumper crowd were in place at the Abbey and Swindon chief Rossiter was in no doubt that spectators got bang for their buck.

“They got the entertainment and if they haven’t got the bug after that, they’ll never come back – that’s for sure,” he added.