Hammers tame The Lions
The Vortex Lakeside Hammers delivered three home wins on the bounce tonight, with a comprehensive 57-35 victory over the Leicester Lions.
Looking to make amends for their poor performance in Norfolk the previous evening, Skipper Andreas Jonsson immediately led the way in heat one, with Mikkel Bech, as the pair hunted down the fast gating Lions captain Jason Doyle, passing him either side on the back straight of lap 3. Although the Aussie GP star fought back to second, Bech returned the favour on the last bend of the fourth lap, to give the Hammers a perfect 5-1 start.
The first reserves race then saw Adam Ellis continuing his return to form with a smart gate to take the lead. Ben Morley, in at reserve for the Hammers fought past Simon Lambert, but couldn’t quite reel in Adam Roynon.
Eddie Kennett, and former Hammers Skipper Davey Watt, covering for Kim Nilsson who was en-route to a GP qualifier, made simple work of heat 3, with new Lions recruit, former Hammer Piotr Swiderski, taking third.
Richard Lawson made a perfect gate in the following race, with Morley producing a neat cut back to keep Wozniak at the rear. With the Hammers 12 points to the good, the meeting took an initial swing in the Lions favour in the following race, when Ellis fell entering bend 1 of the second lap during a tight scrap with Worrall. In the resulting re-run, Mikkel Bech then suffered mechanical issues allowing the Lions to captialise for a 5-1 of their own.
An 8 point gap became 6 in the following race when Doyle gated ahead of Lawson, and Swiderski then muscled his way past Kennett, to give the Lions a 2-4.
Order was restored in the following race however, with Jonsson passing the gating Wozniak and Walasek, before dissappearing into the distance, whilst Davey Watt fought his way past the Lions to deliver an another 5-1 heat advantage, extending the Hammers lead back to 10 points.
Lawson squeezed out Worrall on the 2nd bend of heat 8, whilst Morley pushed the former Hammer before settling in third. The Hammers increased the Lions woes in the 9th, when Wozniak fell in a tight first bend, but with no red lights coming on, the Hammers pairing of Ellis and Bech raced off ahead of Roynan to hit the Lions with the fourth 5-1 of the evening.
Leicester deployed Doyle as a tactical in a heat 10 that took two attempts to start. In the first running Worrall and Watt took a first bend tumble, resulting in an all four back. The second attempt was called back for movement on the line.
In the third running, Doyle again gated and appeared to be dominating, until Watt found a perfect exit from the fourth bend on the third lap, to steam past his compatriot on the outside of the home straight. With Kennett in third, a shared 4-4 all be ended the Lions resistance.
An on fire Jonsson took his third heat win in the eleventh, with Swiderski keeping Beck honest in third. The second reserves heat then produced a great race. Roynon gated, and led for two laps before Morley showed his memory of the Raceway lines, to move under his fellow Redcar Bear on the third lap. In the meantime, Adam Ellis neatly moved past Lambert, to ease the Hammers into a 20 point lead.
Jonsson delivered another gating masterclass in the thirteenth, as Doyle got the better of Watt. The penultimate race saw another 5-1 to the Hammers with Lawson and Kennett easily seeing off the challenge of Wozniak and Roynon.
Ahead of the nominated heat 15, co-promoter Jon Cook informed the Hammers fans that Andreas Jonsson had already committed himself to the Essex club for the 2016 season. The nominated heat 15 itself then came to a halt on the first bend, when Jonsson was squeezed out and hit the air fence. The second running was then halted due to an unsatisfactory start. As rain suddenly appeared, the third running saw the Lions hit the front from the gate, and take a consolation 1-5, on a night when the Hammers riding and team spirit took control from the outset.
Lakeside = 57
1. Andreas Jonsson 3, 3, 3, 3, 1 = 13
2. Mikkel Bech 2′, 1, 3, 1 = 7+1
3. Edward Kennett 3, 0, 1, 2′ = 6+1
4. Richard Lawson 3, 2, 3, 3, 0 = 11
5. Davey Watt (G) 2′, 2′, 3, 1 = 8+2
6. Adam Ellis 3, Fx, 2′, 1 = 6+1
7. Ben Morley (G) 1, 1, 1, 3 = 6
Leicester = 35
1. Jason Doyle 1, 3, 4!, 2, 3 = 13
2. Richie Worrall (G) 0, 3, 2, 0 = 5
3. Grzegorz Walasek 0, 0, R = 0
4. Szymon Wozniak 0, 1, 0, 1 = 2
5. Piotr Swiderski 1, 1, 2, 0, 2′ = 6+1
6. Simon Lambert 0, 2′, 0, 0 = 2+1
7. Adam Roynon (G) 2, 2, 1, 2, 0 = 7
Leicester win toss take 1 and 3
Heat Results
Heat 01: Jonsson, Bech, Doyle, Worrall. 5-1 58.4
Heat 02: Ellis, Roynon, Morley, Lambert. 4-2 9-3 60.0
Heat 03: Kennett, Watt, Swiderski, Walasek. 5-1 14-4 58.9
Heat 04: Lawson, Roynon, Morley, Wozniak. 4-2 18-6 59.5
Heat 05: Re-run Worrall, Lambert, Bech, Ellis(ex) 1-5 19-11 60.5
Heat 06: Doyle, Lawson, Swiderski, Kennett. 2-4 21-15 59.2
Heat 07: Jonsson, Watt, Wozniak, Walasek. 5-1 26-16 58.6
Heat 08: Lawson, Worrall, Morley, Lambert 4-2 30-18 59.8
Heat 09: Bech, Ellis, Roynon, Wozniak. 5-1 35-19 60.5
Heat 10: Re-runx2 Watt, DOYLE, Kennett, Worrall. 4-4 39-23 59.1
Heat 11: Jonsson, Swiderski, Bech, Walasek ret 4-2 43-25 59.2
Heat 12: Morley, Roynon, Ellis, Lambert. 4-2 47-27 61.1
Heat 13: Jonsson, Doyle, Watt, Swiderski. 4-2 51-29 58.9
Heat 14: Lawson, Kennett, Wozniak, Roynon. 5-1 56-30 60.2
Heat 15: Re-runx2 Doyle, Swiderski, Jonsson, Lawson. 1-5 (57-35) 60.3s