Halsey takes one for the team

Halsey had scored paid seven points from his first three. Geer said the decision was taken to try and ensure Eastbourne scored all three Elite League points and were not faced with a last heat decider for the bonus point when they would have been up against Jason Doyle and Rory Schlein.

“It was tough on Danny who was having a good evening. We were 11 points up going into heat 14 and we thought Cam would win it.

“But if he had problems and they got 5-1 over Danny and then we had conceded a 5-1 in heat 15 - we would have dropped a league point. We needed every point we could.

“If we had lost that bonus point, I would be standing here trying to explain why I didn’t put Lewis in heat 14.” Geer emphasised that replacing Halsey in heat 14 should in no way be seen as a criticism of the rider. “I thought Danny rode exceptionally well. He had a new engine set up and he performed well and looked good,” Geer said.