Eastbourne Eagles 53, Lakeside Hammers 40
AFTER Hammers’ home win against Coventry last Wednesday the Elite League action moved down to the Sussex coast on Thursday but the meeting at the Arlington Stadium turned into an anti-climax for the visitors.
Despite the Eagles lowly position in the League table they had managed to win seven out of their 11 home matches and had won their previous home matches. Hammers did travel with some confidence having achieved a draw there in the Good Friday 'A' fixture.
Having lost the toss for gate positions the Eagles chose gates 2 & 4, which appeared to look the most favourable prior to the start of the meeting. However, the home crowd were silenced when Lee Richardson and Kauko Nieminen stormed to a very impressive 5-1 in the opening heat. The home side immediately hit back with a 5-1 of their own with Simon Gustafsson and Lukas Dryml looking impressive.
The Hammers used the 'Rider Replacement' for Daniel Davidsson, who was at the track but was unable to move his neck and following Nieminen's good start in heat one from the inside gate position it was decided to use him for the first R/R ride, which also meant that he came off the inside gate. However, Eagles’ captain Cameron Woodward got to the first bend in front and pinned the Hammer to the inside. Jonas Davidsson managed to get into second place and Nieminen followed him home with Ricky Kling at the back to ensure a shared heat.
The Eagles took the lead with a 4-2 in heat four when Dryml outgated Robson and with Adam Shields making a mess of the start Joonas Kylmakorpi picked up the third place. Lee Richardson won the next heat but Nieminen got squeezed out on the first bend in what resulted in a shared heat. The home side's lead was then extended to four points in heat six when Zagar got the better of Shields while Tomasz Jedrzejak kept Paul Hurry at the back.
Robson attempted the wide open spaces in the next heat but there was insufficient grip to allow him the possibility of the outside pass and with Jonas Davidsson at the back following a poor gate the home side extended their lead to eight points.
Nieminen won heat eight but Robson fell when his engine gave way. Heat nine was also shared as Shields claimed the win but Hurry could not find any grip to put Kling and Woodward under any pressure.
Robson came out in heat 10 on Richardson’s second machine and managed to keep Dryml behind him but Zagar took the win so the resultant 4-2 to the Eagles meant that the Hammers were now ten points in arrears. Richardson came out in the black and white helmet colour in the next heat alongside Nieminen. He had to work extremely hard on the first bend to keep the Eagles pairing of Kylmakorpi and Gustafsson behind him but in doing so there was no room for Nieminen who was then unable to find any way past the Eagles pairing. The subsequent 6-3 reduced the Eagles’ lead to seven points and that further reduced to just five when Jonas Davidsson won heat 12 with Robson picking up the third place.
Heat 13 looked likely to be the key to who took what League points. Zagar gated but Shields and Richardson tucked in behind to claim a share of the points with Kylmakorpi appearing to struggle at the back on what looked like an increasingly slicker track surface.
That meant the Hammers were five points behind with two heats remaining. A Hammers win was still a possibility but a single League point for a loss by six points or less looked a real possibility. However, those thoughts were dashed in heat 14 when Gustafsson and Woodward made the starts and claimed a 5-1. Hammers needed a maximum heat advantage in the final heat. Zagar and Gustafsson represented the Eagles while Richardson and Shields Lee and Adam came out for the Hammers.
Gustafsson made the start with Zagar and Lee vying for second place. In what turned out to be the best race of the night Richardson got past Zagar in a fairly hard move but Zagar then returned the complement in a far harder manoeuvre. The resultant Eagles 5-1 gave the home side the win.
Hammers: 1. Richardson 13+2; 2. Kauko Nieminen 7+1; 3. Rider replacement; 4. Jonas Davidsson 6; 5.Adam Shields 7; 6.Paul Hurry 1; 7. Stuart Robson 6.
Heat-by-heat:
1: Nieminen, Richardson, Zagar, Jedrzejak. (1-5) 55.9
2: Dryml, Gustafsson, Hurry, Robson (fell exc) (5-1) (6-6.) 57.1
3: Woodward, J Davidsson, Nieminen, Kling (3-3) (9-9) 55.9
4: Dryml, Robson, Kylmakorpi, Shields (4-2) (13-11) 56.7
5: Richardson, Woodward, Kling, Nieminen (3-3) (16-14) 56.6
6: Zagar, Shields, Jedrzejak, Hurry (4-2) (20-16) 56.8
7: Gustafsson, Kylmakorpi, Robson, J Davidsson (5-1) (25-17) 57.2
8: Nieminen, Dryml, Jedrzejak, Robson (fell) (3-3) (28-20) 57.3
9: Shields, Kling, Woodward, Hurry (3-3) (31-23) 57.1
10: Zagar, Robson, Dryml, J Davidsson (4-2) (35-25) 57.2
11: Richardson, Kylmakorpi, Gustafsson, Nieminen (3-6) (38-31) 56.5
12: J Davidsson, Dryml, Robson, Kling (2-4) (40-35) 56.9
13: Zagar, Shields, Richardson, Kylmakorpi (3-3) (43-38) 56.5
14: Gustafsson, Woodward, J Davidsson, Robson (5-1) (48-39) 56.9
15: Gustafsson, Zagar, Richardson, Shields (5-1) (53-40) 56.9