Vortex Hammers beat Brummies

May 17, 2013

The Vortex Hammers collected two league points in a hard fought victory over a competitive Birmingham Brummies outfit on Friday evening, racing to a 5-1 in the final race to ensure that a home Elite League victory was secured nonetheless.

The early part of the meeting gave a good indication as to the potential closeness of the final score as the opening heats were tight albeit incident free save an alarming spill for Ben Barker. The Brummies number five took a very heavy fall exiting the second turn for the final time in heat four and eventually returned to his feet after some initial concern.

The action started to heat up in heat six when a superb ride from Peter Karlsson saw him make up ground from the back to narrowly miss out on the race spoils behind the resurging Barker. Brummies eventually nabbed a 5-1 advantage of their own at the turn of the meeting when Jason Doyle and Martin Smolinski outpaced Kim Nilsson and Robert Mear.

The second half of the meeting was tight from a score perspective as heat advantages exchange hands. Karlsson and race partner Davey Watt secured a maximum 5-1 over a very disappointing Chris Harris in heat thirteen – how Birmingham must wonder what might have been had he got among the points – and immediately gave it back in the penultimate race. Josh Auty, who also took a very heavy fall in hear seven, teamed up with Smolinski to inflict maximum damage in heat fourteen to set up a nail biting last heat decider.

As the tapes rose on the final race it was Watt and Karlsson who showed first and they held firm, collecting a 5-1 to ensure the home side finished the meeting on top. The meeting ended with Vortex Hammers boss Jon Cook taking to the mic, informing the crowd that Polish star Sebastian Ulamek will be joining the club at the start of June.

Lakeside Hammers = 48
 1. Peter Karlsson - 3 , 2 , 0 , 2' , 2' = 9+2
 2. Kim Nilsson - 1 , 1' , 0 , 2 = 4+1
 3. Lewis Bridger - 3 , 2 , 2' , 3 = 10+1
 4. Piotr Swiderski - 1 , 0 , 3 , 1 = 5
 5. Davey Watt - 3 , 1' , 3 , 3 , 3 = 13+1
 6. Richard Lawson - 3 , 2 , 1 , 0 , 0 = 6
 7. Robert Mear - 0 , 1 , 0 = 1

Birmingham Brummies = 42
 1. Chris Harris - 0 , 1 , 1' , 0 = 2+1
 2. Jason Doyle - 2 , 3 , 3 , 2 , 1 = 11
 3. Danny King - 2 , 3 , 1 , 1' , 0 = 7+1
 4. Josh Auty - 0 , F , 2' = 2+1
 5. Ben Barker - X , 3 , 1 , 1 = 5
 6. Martin Smolinski - 2 , F , 2' , 3 , 2 , 3 = 12+1
 7. Nicolas Covatti - 1' , 2 , 0 = 3+1

Heat Results

Heat 01: Karlsson, Doyle, Nilsson, Harris (4-2) 59.3
 Heat 02: Lawson, Smolinski, Covatti, Mear (3-3) (7-5) 59.7
 Heat 03: Bridger, King, Swiderski, Auty (4-2) (11-7) 58.9
 Heat 04: Watt, Covatti, Mear Barker (fell exc) (4-2) (15-9) awarded, no time
 Heat 05: Doyle, Bridger, Harris, Swiderski (2-4) (17-13) 58.8
 Heat 06: Barker, Karlsson, Nilsson, Smolinski - Fell (3-3) (20-16) 59.2
 Heat 07: King, Lawson, Watt, Auty (fell) (3-3) (23-19) 59.7
 Heat 08: Doyle, Smolinski, Lawson, Nilsson (1-5) (24-24) 59.9
 Heat 09: Swiderski, Bridger, Barker, Covatti (5-1) (29-25) 59.2
 Heat 10: Smolinski, Nilsson, King, Karlsson (2-4) (31-29) 59.9
 Heat 11: Watt, Doyle, Harris, Mear (3-3) (34-32) 59.20
 Heat 12: Bridger, Smolinski, King, Lawson (ret) (3-3) (37-35) 59.3
 Heat 13: Watt, Karlsson, Barker, Harris (5-1) (42-36) 59.4
 Heat 14: Smolinski, Auty, Swiderski, Lawson (1-5) (43-41) 59.5
 Heat 15: Watt, Karlsson, Doyle, King (5-1) (48-42) 59.6