Coventry Bees

Coventry Bees are a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon near Coventry, England. They are eight times champions of Britain.

History

Origins and 1920s

The first speedway in Coventry arrived during the inaugural year of UK speedway on 21 July 1928, at the Lythalls Lane Stadium. The racing was organised by Midlands Speedways (a Manchester company) with a series of open and challenge events. In September 1928, rival venue Brandon Stadium began to host events. The first match to feature a Coventry team was an away fixture to Liverpool on 24 October 1928.

The first league speedway saw Coventry (based at Brandon Stadium) compete in the 1929 Speedway Southern League, which was the inaugural season of the Southern League. The team featuring some of the most famous names the era, including Jack Parker and Tom Farndon finished third behind Stamford Bridge Pensioners.

1930s

After the 1930 season, the team disbanded following financial difficulties experienced by the owners Motordromes Ltd. They did however return mid-way through the 1931 season to replace Leicester Stadium, who were liquidated in late May.

Coventry were founder members of the National League from 1932 to 1933. The team were all set to return to action in 1934, but the Brandon proprietor C. W. East suddenly put the stadium up for sale. Despite challenges matches taking place during 1934 and 1936, league speedway would not return to Coventry for 15 years.

1940s

Coventry was devastated during the war and it was not until 1948 that speedway returned under Coventry Stadium Ltd. Jack Parker became the technical adviser and a team entered the 1948 Speedway National League Division Three. The club also became known as The Bees and Charles Ochiltree became the team manager. In 1949 the Bees competed in the second division.

1950s

After two solid seasons in 1950 and 1951, the team won their first of eleven Midland Cups in 1952. The Bees then won the 1953 Speedway National League Division Two league title, with the team including riders Charlie New and Stan Williams. The Bees continued to compete in the second division, finishing runner-up in 1955 before they took their place in division 1 in 1957. Per Olof Söderman, Ron Mountford and Jim Lightfoot emerged as leading riders for the club, and Nigel Boocock was signed from Ipswich.

1960s

After a second Midland Cup win in 1960, the Bees experienced limited success, even after joining the new revamped British League in 1965. However, finally in 1967 the team won the British League Knockout Cup 1967 and finished runner-up to Swindon Robins in the league. The following season for the 1968 British League, the Bees signed Czech rider Antonín Kasper Sr. to support Nigel Boocock and Ron Mountford and the consistency of other riders such as Col Cottrell, Les Owen and Rick France resulted in the Bees becoming UK champions for first time.

1970s

Despite winning a third consecutive Midland Cup in 1971 the Bees experienced several poor seasons. In an attempt to bring back success they signed the world champion Ole Olsen in 1976 and the Bees results began to improve. The team won back to back league titles in 1978 and 1979. Olsen was imperious, with Mitch Shirra and Alan Molyneux adding vital support, as did two Danes Alf Busk and 17 year-old Tommy Knudsen.

1980s

The 1980s saw smaller successes, with League Cup wins in 1981 and 1985 and Midland Cup wins in 1981 and 1982 but the Bees fell short when it came to challenging for the league title.

Tommy Knudsen became the number 1 rider and the club signed Kelvin Tatum, Rick Miller and John Jørgensen in an attempt to compete with Oxford Cheetahs and Cradley Heath Heathens. The consistency of the four riders helped the Bees claim back to back league titles (1987 & 1988) for a second time in the club's history.

Charles Ochiltree continued to promote the speedway as he had done way back in the 1950s under Allan Sanderson's company Midland Sports Stadiums. Ochiltree was now managing director of the company.

1990s

The club's fortunes somewhat declined during the 1990s, with the Bees achieving a best place finish of 3rd during the 1998 Elite League speedway season. They did however claim a Craven Shield win in 1997. Many riders came in and out of the team with the pick of them being Hans Nielsen, Brian Andersen, Greg Hancock and Billy Hamill.

2000s

The American pairing of Hancock and Hamill led Coventry into the new millennium and the Bee's results were solid, twice finishing 3rd in 2001 and 2002 before finishing runner-up behind Poole Pirates in 2003. After a terrible 2004 campaign changes were made with Scott Nicholls coming in to support number 1 Andreas Jonsson. The pair were well supported by other new signings Joonas Kylmäkorpi and Sebastian Ułamek, which resulted in the Bees becoming the 2005 champions.

On 28 October 2007, the Bees lifted the Elite League Knockout Cup for the second year running, defeating the Swindon Robins in the final, completing a clean sweep of all three major trophies, having already annexed the Craven Shield by beating Swindon Robins and the Poole Pirates over the three leg final and winning the league title. Scott Nicholls remained with the team from 2005 and was well supported by Chris Harris.

2010s

In 2010, the Bees won the Elite League Championship, defeating the Poole Pirates in both legs of the play-off grand finals. The 2010 triumph was the eighth and last time that Coventry would be crowned champions of Britain.

The 2011 season brought continual problems starting on 24 November 2010, when changes to the rules for rider averages made at the AGM of the BSPA saw the Bees and Peterborough Panthers walk out of the meeting, resulting in the BSPA omitting both teams from the 2011 season for failing to declare their intent to compete. However, four months later on 8 April 2011, the BSPA reverted the decision. Later, captain Edward Kennett was banned for six months, after it was deemed his silencer was 'illegal, with Kennett blaming a fellow team member. Then on 21 September, the Bees were put up for sale by owner Avtar Sandhu. Businessman Mick Horton and Colin Pratt took over the team.

Five more seasons of Elite League racing ensued including a play off final in 2014 before the racing ceased due to the closure of Brandon Stadium.

Closure

On 26 February 2017 it was announced by the BSPA that the club has had its licence frozen because they were unable to satisfy the BSPA that they could fulfil a full season of league racing. This was primarily due to having an agreement with Leicester Lions to only use their stadium for a handful of fixtures and not having any guarantees of being able to return to Brandon Stadium for the remaining fixtures.

The Bees were reformed to compete in the junior 2018 National League speedway season, with home meetings being staged at Leicester. but once again became homeless in 2019 as the Leicester promotion decided to run their own National League junior team. Brandon Stadium today lies derelict with several planning applications having been made for redevelopment. Many club enthusiasts, supported by the local council, have campaigned for the return of speedway and stock car racing to the stadium.

In early 2022, an organisation advocating the return of motorsport to the site, Save Coventry Speedway, proposed to the council that speedway be restored to the stadium, along with a museum and restaurant. In January 2024, Brandon Estates appeal for planning application to redevelop the site was dismissed by the Inspector.

Notable riders

Season summary

Season summary (juniors)

Coventry Storm made their competitive debut in the 2013 National League season. The Bees had previously run a team in the third tier of British speedway in 2004, under the name Coventry Cougars. The initial team line-up was Joe Jacobs, James Sarjeant, Oliver Greenwood, Brendan Johnson, Richard Franklin, Trevor Heath, and Martin Knuckey, but a broken wrist for Greenwood saw Robert Branford replace him, with Tommy Fenwick also replacing Heath.Double Change for Storm
, coventrybees.co, 20 April 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013

See also

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References

External links

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{{Speedway National League

Sport in Coventry
Speedway Elite League teams