Eagles take Good Friday spoils

Eastbourne took the opening bout of the Good Friday double header action when they came from behind to snatch victory in the final race of this Elite League clash at Purfleet.

The Eagles had trailed for the whole meeting but found themselves level with the home team going into the final race – with Hammers hopeful of at least getting a draw out of the encounter with Lee Richardson lining up on the heavily favoured gate one.

It was Richardson who made the quickest gate, taking an early lead from the Eagles pairing of Bjarne Pedersen and Joonas Kylmakorpi as the sun beat down on the dry conditions.

Kylmakorpi attempted several of his trademark outside dashes but to no avail – but his last effort on the fourth bend of the third lap caused Richardson to move over to block, leaving Pedersen free to drive up the inside and take the lead. Richardson then duly fell on the entry to the first turn, leaving the large Eagles travelling contingent to celebrate an away victory as the eventual 2-4 saw them collect three league points.

It was very close in the early stages but Eagles were never in the lead and the home side should really have capitalised on the early low returns from Pedersen and in-form reserve Lewis Bridger. Gating was vital and both teams were evenly matched in this area although Peter Ljung and Kauko Nieminen lost points when they drifted off of the racing line exiting the second corner and were overhauled by their opponents. This was particularly evident in heat seven when both Simon Gustafsson and Cameron Woodward came from behind to turn a Hammers 5-1 into a 3-3.

The home side suffered bad luck in heat nine when Piotr Swiderski packed up when on a 5-1 with Shields – and a restart of heat eleven gave Eagles a second chance after a Lukas Dryml false start. They duly capitalised too, with Dryml and race partner Pedersen racing to a 5-1 over Ljung and the lively Robert Mear.

The run of bad luck continued when the Hammers lost  Shields following a horrific pile-up in heat twelve and with Swiderski reported to be suffering from sickness. Shields’ crash was bad indeed, leading as he was his heat by some margin and taking the Hammers towards a 5-1 until he fell.

Exiting the fourth bend for the last time and comfortably in control, Shields clipped the air fence and then lost control, piling up close to the finish line. Both partner Stuart Robson and opponent Gustafsson avoided him but Eagles newcomer Timo Lahti was not so lucky, piling into the Aussie’s bike and taking a heavy fall.

Shields did not appear again and Lahti took to the St Johns Ambulance treatment table – but the immediate loss to the home side was the four point advantage they were a couple of seconds away from claiming. The potential 5-1 was turned into a 3-3 and Eagles went from looking out of the meeting to being right back in the match – and so it proved in the final outcome.

Lakeside Hammers  44

1. Lee Richardson   - 3  2  3  3  F  = 11
2. Kauko Nieminen   - X  0  3  2'    = 5+1
3. Adam Shields     - 1  3  2  F     = 6
4. Piotr Swiderski  - 3  2' R  0  2  = 7+1
5. Peter Ljung      - 2  0  1  0     = 3
6. Robert Mear      - 2  3  0        = 5
7. Stuart Robson    - 1' 1' 1  3  1  = 7+2
Eastbourne Eagles  46
1. Bjarne Pedersen  - 2  0  3  1' 3  = 9+1
2. Lukas Dryml      - 1' 1  2  2'    = 6+2
3. Simon Gustafsson - 0  1' 0  2     = 3+1
4. Cameron Woodward - 2  2  1  2'    = 7+1
5. Joonas Kylmakorpi- 0  3  3  2  1  = 9
6. Timo Lahti       - 3  1  1  1'    = 6+1
7. Lewis Bridger    - 0  3  0  3     = 6
Heat 01: Richardson, Pedersen, Dryml, Nieminen (fell, exc) (3-3) 59.0
Heat 02: Lahti, Mear, Robson, Bridger (3-3) (6-6) 59.9
Heat 03: Swiderski, Woodward, Shields, Gustafsson (4-2) (10-8) 58.5
Heat 04: Bridger, Ljung, Robson, Kylmakorpi (3-3) (13-11) 59.0
Heat 05: Shields, SWiderski, Dryml, Pedersen (5-1) (18-12) 58.5
Heat 06: Kylmakorpi, Richardson, Lahti, Nieminen (2-4) (20-16) 58.3
Heat 07: Mear, Woodward, Gustafsson, Ljung (3-3) (23-19) 59.9
Heat 08: Nieminen, Dryml, Robson, Bridger (4-2) (27-21) 59.7
Heat 09: Kylmakorpi, Shields, Lahti, Swiderski (ret) (2-4) (29-25) 59.0
Heat 10: Richardson, Nieminen, Woodward, Gustafsson (5-1) (34-26) 60.3
Heat 11: Pedersen, Dryml, Ljung, Mear (1-5) (35-31) 59.6
Heat 12: Robson, Gustafsson, Lahti, Shields (fell) (3-3) (38-34) Awarded, no time
Heat 13: Richardson, Kylmakorpi, Pedersen, Ljung (3-3) (41-37) 60.2
Heat 14: Bridger, Woodward, Robson, Swiderski (1-5) (42-42) 61.4
Heat 15: Pedersen, Swiderski, Kylmakorpi, Richardson (fell) (2-4) (44-46) 61.1

Picture: Heat 10: Richardson (red), Nieminen (blue) and Gustafsson – Lakeside Hammers vs Eastbourne Eagles – Elite League Speedway at Arena Essex Raceway – 22/04/11 – (Gavin Ellis/TGSPHOTO)