TEAM boss Neil Middleditch said he had no sympathy with Coventry after Pirates had emerged triumphant following a controversial end to their Elite League clash tonight.

Pirates had been leading 36-22 when the meeting was abandoned due to a waterlogged track at Brandon – with Coventry refusing to send out riders for heat 10.

Both Joonas Kylmakorpi and Chris Harris were excluded after failing to make the start line in time and no replacements were offered, allowing Chris Holder and Davey Watt to race unchallenged to a 5-0 win.

The meeting was subsequently brought to a premature end by referee Christina Turnbull with Pirates picking up four points as the result stood following the minimum required 10 heats.

Middleditch told the Daily Echo: “It wasn’t pretty speedway, I’ve got to admit that. We could see the conditions were deteriorating but I told the boys to keep focusing on making the starts.

“Coventry were trying to get the meeting called off when they were behind but the rules state that the losing team can demand a track inspection after heat 10 and they elected not to put out riders in heat 10.

“That was their fault, not ours. We can only race who they put against us and they put nobody against so we will take the 5-0 and all the points.”

Asked whether he had any sympathy for the Bees, Middleditch replied: “No, not really. It would have been the same if it had been the other way round. As a manager, I have to try to keep my boys focused, which was what I did.

“Coventry were basically falling apart at the seams in the pits. They were running around and nobody knew what was going on. They had had a couple of falls but that’s speedway. You can only race what they put in front of you. The conditions were bad but my boys stayed focused and that is what it is all about.”

Chris Holder drew first blood for Pirates when a superb manoeuvre saw him squeeze past Hans Andersen to take the opening heat before Kyle Newman and Paul Starke teamed up for a maximum in the next.

Although Kylmakorpi and Harris hit back and Daniel King turned heat four into something of a procession, lightning starts from both Watt and Starke in heat five saw Pirates re-establish a four-point lead.

Maciej Janowski won an epic duel with King to take second place in heat six behind Kylmakorpi, while Harris’s win in heat seven reduced the deficit to just two points.

However, Watt and Starke were gifted a 5-0 in heat eight when King failed to leave the 15-metre start line and Garrity was excluded before Pirates opened a nine-point lead thanks to Newman’s win in heat nine.

And the meeting came to a farcical end when Kylmakorpi and Harris both failed to show for the start of heat 10, with Pirates claiming maximum points as they were leading at the time of the abandonment.

Rider scores and heat details

Pirates 36: Chris Holder (3-0-3) = 6, Davey Watt (0-3-3-2*) = 8+1, Dakota North (1-2) = 3, Kacper Gomolski (2-1*-1) = 4+1, Maciej Janowski (EF-2) = 2, Paul Starke (2*-2*-2*) = 6+3, Kyle Newman (3-1*-3) = 7+1.

Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Bees 22: Hans Andersen (2-0) = 2, Stuart Robson (1*-0-2) = 3+1, Joonas Kylmakorpi (3-3-exc/time) = 6, Daniel King (3-1-ef) = 4, Chris Harris (2*-3-exc-time) = 5+1, Jason Garrity (1-1-fell/exc-exc) = 2, James Sarjeant (0-0).

Team manager: Gary Havelock.

Referee: Christina Turnbull.

HT 1: Holder, Andersen, Robson, Watt, 62.30 (3-3).

HT 2: (re-run) Newman, Starke, Garrity, Sarjeant, 64.20 (4-8).

HT 3: Kylmakorpi, Harris, North, Janowski (rtd), 63.69 (9-9).

HT 4: King, Gomolski, Newman, Sarjeant, 63.19 (12-12).

HT 5: (re-run) Watt, Starke, Garrity, Robson, 64.31 (13-17).

HT 6: Kylmakorpi, Janowski, King, Holder, 63.40 (17-19).

HT 7: Harris, North, Gomolski, Andersen (fell/rmtd), 64.59 (20-22).

HT 8: Watt, Starke, King (rtd), Garrity (fell/exc), 67.10 (20-27).

HT 9: (re-run) Newman, Robson, Gomolski, Garrity (fell/exc), 66.61 (22-31).

HT 10: Holder, Watt, Kylmakorpi (exc/time), Harris (exc/time), 66.19 (22-36).