HEAVY rain played right into the hands of Coventry Bees on Monday night according to Simon Gustafsson as the Swindon Robins crashed out of the Elite League play-offs.

Despite the wet weather on the morning of the semi-final play-off second leg, covers were put on the track to ensure the race would go ahead.

The decision worked and the race, that was live on Sky, was good to go, however there were parts of the track that were very damp and there was a lot of work being done on the start-line until tapes-up.

That left many of the riders, who were confident heading into the meeting of clawing back the eight-point deficit from the first leg back on their home track, scrambling to work out the right set-up for their bikes.

Throughout the evening, the Robins riders were struggling with the start and too often they were being beaten to the first corner by the Bees.

“It was not too good; when it rains like it did, the track gets a bit different to what we are used to and that is always easier when the away team come to the track,” said Gustafsson, who only scored six points from his four rides.

“They are not used to the track like we are used to it, so they have no expectations about what the track should be like.

“It is always tough because we have to change all the set-ups and it is a bit unsettling for us.

“We can’t take anything away from them -they were good as well. They were firing off the start and we weren’t, so I don’t know what to say really. We are all disappointed but that is life.

“I felt it straight away (that Swindon were not going to win) to be honest because none of us were on it. We knew it was going to be a long day.

“We needed a couple of five-ones to start with, to get back level and go from there, but that never happened so it was a tough night.”