THERE’S never a bad occasion to produce your best performance of the season, but I get the feeling that Swindon’s 57-35 crushing of Belle Vue was particularly well-timed.
Prior to last night, Swindon had looked severely on the ropes. They had been stunned by Coventry, humbled by Poole and then blown away late on by the Aces on Monday.
With an away trip to Coventry on the horizon, a defeat to Chris Morton’s septet last night would have seen the knives sharpened and more grim predictions made.
But happily for the Grzegorz Zengota-less Robins, every single member of the team turned up and went beyond the call of duty, and how Swindon profited as a result.
Simon Stead, who has been quietly brilliant the Abbey Stadium over the last few weeks, certainly did his prospects of a Great Britain World Cup call-up no harm by leading the scoring in fine style.
There was once again another ruthless point-grabbing performance from Leigh Adams and Thomas H. Jonasson, in his first home meeting for more than a month, was terrific.
The futures of Morten Risager and Mads Korneliussen may well be up in the air, but the Danish duo gave team boss Ronnie Russell something to think about after bagging paid 10 and nine respectively, totals neither have got anywhere near in recent times.
Finally, we should not forget Jordan Frampton, who has endured a difficult start to the season and looked like he might struggle last night after carding two zero-point runs.
But out of nowhere, the 25-year-old hopped on his second-choice bike and romped away from Hans Andersen and Stead like it was the easiest thing in the world.
It was certainly my top ride of the night and gave Frampton his first victory in Robins kevlars.
I’m sure riders and management are acutely aware that one result does not suddenly make Swindon play-off contenders, but at least it gives the team something to build on ahead of the trip to Coventry on Monday.
The Bees will provide an extremely stern test, having made some useful recent signings in the form of Przemyslaw Pawlicki and Krzysztof Kasprzak, while Lewis Bridger is a gamble that could well pay off.
Swindon will need their riders to replicate their Belle Vue performance of last night if they are to silence their former boss, the man dubbed speedway’s ‘Special One’, Alun Rossiter.
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