PARRYS International Wolves left another away meeting empty-handed as they were beaten 52-40 by Midlands rivals Coventry at Brandon.

Wolves got off to the worst possible start with Chris Harris and guesting Frenchman David Bellego scoring a Heat 1 maximum over Fredrik Lindgren and Ty Proctor. Swedish reserves Jacob Thorssell and Pontus Aspgren did respond with an impressive 5-1 of their own in Heat 2 - but the Bees' middle order pairing of Eddie Kennett and Kenni Larsen linked up in Heats 3 and 5 to give the hosts an eight point lead.

Although they kept in touch with a string of 3-3s, Wolves never managed to make any inroads into their neighbours' lead, and the impressive Larsen ensured Coventry took all three Elite League points by instigating a 4-2 in the penultimate race of the night.

The meeting was interrupted in bizarre circumstances after 11 heats, as the Brandon starting gates failed. After a long delay, an alternative was finally agreed, with a piece of elastic used, and the meeting continued.

Tai Woffinden put his recent British Final heartache behind him to lead the Wolves charge with 14 points, whilst Ricky Wells and Ty Proctor also carried out their roles well. However, Nicolai Klindt took a couple of rides to get up to speed on his return, and No.1 Lindgren scored just 3+2 as Wolves fell short.

Wolves boss Peter Adams said: "I think if we were ever going to win at Coventry this season it was going to be today, so we are bitterly disappointed to be going away empty-handed.

"I haven't seen that sort of fiasco with the tapes before and hopefully I won't see it again as it was highly unsatisfactory."

Coventry 52: Chris Harris 14, Kenni Larsen 13+1, Edward Kennett 9+2, Scott Nicholls 7, David Bellego 5+3, Richard Hall 4+1, Aaron Summers R/R.

Wolverhampton 40: Tai Woffinden 14, Ricky Wells 7+1, Ty Proctor 6, Nicolai Klindt 4, Pontus Aspgren 3+2, Freddie Lindgren 3+2, Jacob Thorssell 3.