SWINDON Robins suffered their second abandonment in two days this evening but this time, they were also left to contemplate defeat.

On Wednesday, only four heats of action were possible before Alun Rossiter’s men saw their trip to the King’s Lynn Stars chaotically curtailed.

But on Thursday evening, the Robins’ clash with the second-placed Belle Vue Aces was already 12 races old when rainy conditions at the Abbey Stadium proved too much, forcing the hosts to settle for a 39-33 loss on home shale.

Perhaps a little too eager to impress at his former stomping ground, ex-Robin Steve Worrall rode straight through the tapes and was subsequently excluded from the opening heat of the evening, with twin brother Richie replacing him.

After another false start, the first race of the meeting finally got under way and the wait was worth it for Robins fans as Jason Doyle superbly chased down Grand Prix rival Matej Zagar, passing the Aces star on the home straight, whilst Rohan Tungate bested Richie Worrall to hand Swindon a 4-2 win.

In heat two, Charles Wright got the better of Joe Jacobs, who was due to guest for Swindon in Wednesday’s ill-fated trip to the King’s Lynn Stars, but in the third race of the evening, an apparent technical issue caused Justin Sedgmen to pack up and allow Scott Nicholls and Craig Cook to make it 9-9.

The deadlock continued in heat four, Nick Morris slamming the door shut on fellow Australian Max Fricke but guest Robert Branford span out to tee up another 3-3 result.

Tungate chased down Richie Worrall again to rack up another draw in heat five but the visitors got their noses in front in the next race of the night, Cook roaring back to steal the lead from Morris whilst Sedgmen suffered another mechanical breakdown.

But back came the Robins and in heat seven, after one seemingly harsh false start call, home skipper Doyle stormed home from the gate whilst Grajczonek confidently saw off the challenge of Max Fricke to bring about the first maximum of the meeting.

The spoils were shared once again in the eighth but in the ninth, Swindon were left licking their wounds as the visitors hit back with a 5-1 of their own.

As Jacobs claimed victory, Tungate feel behind as he looked for a false start call that never came, whilst Fricke found a way past Wright to nick second-place, making it 28-26 to Belle Vue.

The Aces looked set to press the issue home in heat 10 as Steve Worrall streaked away in search of his third race win of the night but stunning riding from Josh Grajczonek saw the Swindon number five put the pedal to the metal and clinch first place to salvage a draw by the skin of his teeth.

The two sides continued to trade blows, with two points remaining the gap as Doyle dominated heat 11 with a blisteringly fast display but Tungate was well out of the running, with the scoring standing at 34-32 to the Aces.

But in heat 12, Belle Vue struck a major blow in the second reserve showdown of the meeting, Richie Worrall and Jacobs dominating Branford and Wright – he crashed into an air fence in the latter stages – to secure a maximum and stretch the visitors’ lead to six points.

That collision sparked both teams into putting their heads together and deciding to call an early halt to proceedings with three heats still to ride.