Well earned draw at Swindon
The Hammers warmed up for Friday’s Sky Sports Elite League encounter against the Aces with a well taken draw last night down in Wiltshire in the second leg of their Challenge match against the Swindon Robins. Following a Hammers victory last month against the Robins by 18 points at the Arena-Essex Raceway the return leg proved to be a good testing session whereby the team were able to make full use of the meeting to test out the new silencers on a big track.
Having fallen behind at the Abbey Stadium by 12 points after 10 heats the Hammers side put in a strong performance in the latter stages to fight back to go into the final race two points up but a 4-2 heat advantage to the Robins in that race resulted in the match being drawn.
Swindon Robins 46
1. Scott Nicholls 1 1* 3 1 3 = 9+1 2. Rider Replacement 3. Tomasz Chrzanowski 0 2 1 2* 0 = 5+1 4. Maciej Janowski 1* 0 3 3 1 = 8+1 5. Simon Stead 3 2* 3 0 1 = 9+1 6. Justin Sedgmen 3 2 3 0 0 = 8 7. Josh Grajczonek 2* 2* 1 1 1 = 7+2
Lakeside Hammers 46
1. Lee Richardson 3 3 4! 2* 2 = 14+1 2. Kauko Nieminen 2* 2* 2 1* 0 = 7+3 3. Adam Shields 3 R 2 3 = 8 4. Piotr Swiderski 0 1 R 3 = 4 5. Lewis Bridger 1 3 F 3 = 7 6. Robert Mear 1 0 1 2* 2* = 6+2 7. Lubos Tomicek R 0 0 = 0
Heat Results
Heat 01: Richardson, Nieminen, Nicholls, Chrzanowski (1-5) 64.8 Heat 02: Sedgmen, Grajczonek, Mear, Tomicel (ret) (5-1) (6-6) 66.9 Heat 03: Shields, Cgrzanowski, Janowski, Swiderski (3-3) (9-9) 66.8 Heat 04: Stead, Grajczonek, Bridger, Tomicek (5-1) (14-10) 67.4 Heat 05: Richardson, Nieminen, Chrzanowski, Janowski (1-5) (15-15) 65.8 Heat 06: Bridger, Sedgmen, Nicholls, Mear (3-3) (18-18) 67.2 Heat 07: Sedgmen, Stead, Swiderski, Shields (ret) (5-1) (23-19) 67.3 Heat 08: Janowski, Nieminen, Grajczonek, Tomicek (4-2) (27-21) 67.7 Heat 09: Janowski, Chrzanowsli, Mear, Bridger (fell) (5-1) (32-22) awarded no time Heat 10: Nicholls, Shields, Grajczonek, Swiderski (4-2) (36-24) 67.3 Heat 11: Stead, RICHARDSON, Nieminen, Sedgmen (3-5) (39-29) 67.4 Heat 12: Shields, Mear, Grajczonek, Chrzanowski (1-5) (40-34) 67.5 Heat 13: Bridger, Richardson, Nicholls, Stead (1-5) (41-39) 67.8 Heat 14: Swiderski, Mear, Janowski, Sedgmen (1-5) (42-44) 68.4 Heat 15: Nicholls, Richardson, Stead, Nieminen (4-2) (46-46) 68.1
Picture: Kauko Nieminen (blue) and Simon Stead (white) (Gavis Ellis/TGSPHOTO)