Vortex Hammers demolish The Brummies

The Vortex Hammers delivered a perfect scorline tonight, when they demolished the Birmingham Brummies 69-21, to maintain their unbeaten home record at the Raceway.

The Hammers started in a devasting fashion, notching up maximum 5-1s in the opening three heats, with good team riding between Hammers number 1 Peter Karlsson and the impressive Richard Lawson in heat 1, followed by Ben Morley and fellow Fast track reserve Adam Ellis in the second heat. Captain Davey Watt continued the trend in the third, closely followed by Lewis Bridger who stalked the Brummies Danny King for three laps before finding a way through.

A further heat advantage by Mikkel Bech and Morley in the 4th, led to the Brummies nominating their first tactical ride in heat 5, but Danny King found the pace of Karlsson and Bridger too hot to handle.  The heat domination continued in heat 6, with swoops either side of Edward Kennett by Watt and Bech by the third turn of lap one. Lawson and Ellis then delivered a 4-2 in the 7th, before Bech and Watt again showed great team riding around the second and third bend in the 8th heat,  to leave the second tactical nomination for the Brummies, Adam Skornicki trailing in third.

Morley and Ellis had delivered the seventh 5-1 maximum of the night before the Brummies finally delivered a race victory and heat advantage in heat 10, with Eddie Kennett getting the better of Karlsson and with Lawson finishing at the rear behind King.

It was too little, far too late however as Watt and Bridger, scorched from the tapes in the next race to increase the Hammers lead further.  Heat 12 delivered one of the races of the night with Hammers young “Southend Sensation” Ben Morley holding the experienced Skornicki behind him for four laps to notch up another 5-1 to the Hammers with Lawson.

Bridger and Karlsson continued where they had left off in the 13th, before Bech delivered a classy sweep around bend three in heat 13, to help the Hammers to a further 4-2 with Ellis.

The nominated heat continued to form, with Bech and Watt combining to deliver a final 5-1 on a perfect night for the Essex based club.

Afterwards Hammers Co-Promoter Jon Cook enthused ” It was a truley great team performance with paid maximums for Davey, Mikkel and Lewis, but also a fantastic effort from the rest of the boys including Bens victory over Skornicki in heat 12. Despite how the scoreline appears there were some great overtaking manoeuvres and performances like this, with the team all clicking together, bodes well for the rest of the season”

Hammers team manager Neil Vatcher added “It was a brilliant team performance, and I’m especially pleased for both Ben who had a great race victory and for Lewis who showed a good return to form. We’ll look to continue where we left off tomorrow night at Leicester and onto Good Friday when we take on the Eagles.

Images from the meeting can be found here:

Scores and heat results

Lakeside = 69

1. Peter Karlsson 3, 2′, 2, 2′ = 9+2
2. Richard Lawson 2′, 3, 0, 3 = 8+1
3. Davey Watt 3, 3, 2′, 3, 3 = 14+1
4. Mikkel Bech 3, 2′, 3, 3, 2′ = 13+2
5. Lewis Bridger 2′, 3, 2′, 3 = 10+2
6. Ben Morley 3, 1, 3, 2′ = 9+1
7. Adam Ellis 2′, 1, 2′, 1 = 6+2

Birmingham = 21

1. Ben Barker R/R (EK 1, AS Fx, DK 1, DN 1 = 3)
2. Adam Skornicki 0, 2, Fx, 1!, 1, 1 = 5
3. Danny King 1, 1!, 0, 1, 1, 0 = 4
4. Daniel Nermark 0, 2, 0, 1, 2 = 5
5. Edward Kennett 1, R, 1, 3, 0 = 5
6. Benji Compton (G) F, 0, 0, 0 = 0
7. Simon Lambert 1, 0, 1, F = 2

Heat Results

Heat 01: Re-run Karlsson, Lawson, Kennett, Skornicki 5-1 59.4
Heat 02: Morley, Ellis, Lambert, Compton FELL 5-1 10-2 60.8
Heat 03: Watt, Bridger, King, Kennett RET 5-1 15-3 59.2
Heat 04: Bech, Skornicki, Morley, Lambert 4-2 19-5 59.9
Heat 05: Bridger, Karlsson, KING, Nermark 5-1 24-6 59.5
Heat 06: Re-runx2 Watt, Bech, Kennett 5-1 29-7 60.1
Heat 07: Lawson, Nermark, Ellis, Compton 4-2 33-9 61.1
Heat 08: Bech, Watt, SKORNICKI, King 5-1 38-10 59.4
Heat 09: Morley, Ellis, Lambert, Compton 5-1 43-11 61.6
Heat 10: Kennett, Karlsson, King, Lawson 2-4 45-15 59.9
Heat 11: Watt, Bridger, King, Nermark 5-1 50-16 60.0
Heat 12: Lawson, Morley, Skornicki, Lambert FELL 5-1 55-17 61.4
Heat 13: Bridger, Karlsson, Nermark, Kennett 5-1 60-18 60.2
Heat 14: Bech, Nermark, Ellis, Compton 4-2 64-20 59.9
Heat 15: Watt, Bech, Skornicki, King 5-1 69-21 60.0

Courtesy of @speedwayupdates

Image: Ben Morley of Lakeside Hammers – Lakeside Hammers vs Leicester Lions, Elite League Speedway at the Arena Essex Raceway CREDIT: Rob Newell/TGSPHOTO