Hammers 48 Wolves 45
The Hammers recovered well from the mid-meeting loss of number one Lee Richardson to overcome Raceway specialists Wolverhampton, who were led into battle by the unbeaten Peter Karlsson.
Richardson crashed out of the tenth heat whilst attempting to round the Wolves pairing of Tyron Proctor and Tai Woffinden, hitting the track hard on the third turn and enduring lengthy medical attention. After some time down on the ground he was taken away in an ambulance with tissue damage and did not re-appear – but Hammers fought valiantly over the final few heats to ensure they collected enough points to see off their opponents.
There was some good on-track action throughout and proceedings were made interesting to say the least in the early part of the meeting when a sticky patch of the track on the second turn caused the riders a few problems. The opening heat had seen Richardson pull clear of Fredrik Lindgren to join Kauko Nieminen at the front of the race, only to falter on said turn and leave a window open for Lindgren to snatch second place.
Most eyes were on Lindgren, arguably the Elite League’s star performer, although even he on this occasion was outshone by his team mate Peter Karlsson, who raced to a quite superb eighteen points maximum and looked faultless throughout. This was save when he was out-trapped by Peter Ljung in heat four but handed the race victory when Ljung ran into trouble on that second bend.
Ljung recovered well from the mishap and rattled off a couple of wins, producing a couple of electrifying starts and featuring in an excellent clash with Woffinden in heat seven. His major highlight, though, came in heat eleven as he powered from the tapes and left Lindgren in his wake, pulling off an excellent victory and a 4-2 heat advantage for his team alongside Kyle Legault.
That heat put the Hammers ten points to the good although the smart money was on Wolves’ boss Peter Adams reserving his tactical ride option until heat thirteen with Lindgren and Karlsson present rather than the immediate heat twelve. How vital, then, that the home side took maximum points from that race and it was thanks to a fighting 5-1 from Adam Shields alongside Legault, who drove in front of Proctor down the backstraight to join his team-mate.
The expected tactical manoeuvre did arrive in heat thirteen and with Richardson missing the 8-1 was somewhat inevitable, although Ljung did try very hard and pushed both Karlsson and Lindgren hard. The chance to sew up the match presented itself in heat fourteen, though, and the home pairing of Legault and the returning Jonas Davidsson duly slotted in behind Woffinden to ensure victory.
Wolves notched up a consolation league point with another Lindgren/Karlsson 5-1 in the final race but the home side nonetheless started their 2011 Elite League campaign with a win and several encouraging displays to show for it, too.
Elite League
Friday 1st April 2011
Lakeside Hammers 48
1. Lee Richardson 1 1' X =2+1 2. Kauko Nieminen 3 2 3 3 0 =11 3. Adam Shields 3 2 2 3 =10 4. Jonas Davidsson 2' 1' 1' 2 =6+3 5. Peter Ljung 2 3 3 1 1 =10 6. Rob Mear 2 0 0 =2 7. Kyle Legault 1' 0 2' 1 2' 1' =7+4 Manager : Jon Cook Wolverhampton Wolves 45
1. Freddie Lindgren 2 3 2 2' 2' =11+2 2. Ludvig Lindgren 0 0 0 =0 3. Ty Proctor 0 1' 1' 1 =3+2 4. Tai Woffinden 1 2 2 3 =8 5. Peter Karlsson 3 3 3 6 3 =18 6. Tyron Burmeister X 0 0 0 =0 7. Ricky Wells 3 1 1 0 0 =5 Manager : Peter Adams
Heat 01: Nieminen, F Lindgren, Richardson, L Lindgren 58.4 (4-2) (4-2) Heat 02: Wells, Mear, Legault, Burmeister (fell exc) 59.3 (3-3) (7-5) Heat 03: Shields, Davidsson, Woffinden, Proctor 58.6 (5-1) (12-6) Heat 04: Karlsson, Ljung, Wells, Legault 59.4 (2-4) (14-10) Heat 05: F Lindgren, Shields, Davidsson, L Lindgren 58.2 (3-3) (17-13) Heat 06: Karlsson, Nieminen, Richardson, Burmeister 58.2 (3-3) (20-16) Heat 07: Ljung, Woffinden, Proctor, Mear 59.3 (3-3) (23-19) Heat 08: Nieminen, Legault, Wells, L Lindgren 59.8 (5-1) (28-20) Heat 09: Karlsson, Shields, Davidsson, Burmeister 59.2 (3-3) (31-23) Heat 10: Nieminen, Woffinden, Proctor, Richardson (fell exc) 59.2 (3-3) (34-26) Heat 11: Ljung, F Lindgren, Legault, Wells 59.0 (4-2) (37-29) Heat 12: Shields, Legault, Proctor, Burmeister 59.5 (5-1) (43-29) Heat 13: Karlsson (tactical ride), F Lindgren, Ljung, Mear 58.9 (1-8) (44-37) Heat 14: Woffinden, Davidsson, Legault, Wells 59.5 (3-3) (47-40) Heat 15: Karlsson, F Lindgren, Ljung, Nieminen 59.8 (1-5) (48-45)
Picture: Heat 5: Freddie Lindgren (white), Adam Shields (red) and Jonas Davidsson – Lakeside Hammers vs Wolverhampton Wolves – Elite League Speedway at Arena Essex Raceway – 01/04/11 – (Gavin Ellis/TGSPHOTO)