Lakeside Hammers 52 Coventry Bees 41

Hammers sent a strong Coventry side buzzing back to Brandon with a solid Sky Sports Elite League victory on a Wednesday night of scintillating action.

They had to do without top Pole Krzysztof Kasprzakbut thanks experienced guest Swede Peter Karlsson proved a good replacement, totalling 11.

Kasprzak was racing in his native Poland racing for Grand Prix qualification but Wolverhampton's Karlsson justified Hammers boss Jon Cook's faith.

He had said: "Kris has been sensational for us so far this year and is virtually impossible to replace. However, I am delighted that PK has accepted the booking and I am sure that he will do a good job for us. The match against Coventry is going to be a tough one and I expect the whole team to put in good performances."

And most of his riders justified that confidence.

Skipper Paul Hurry came back into the side in place of Chris Neath and produced a true skipper's performance with three race wins out of his five races.

One rider not at the races was Christian Hefenbrock. He showed no signs of an injury and it looked more like poor machinery let the German down as he failed to score a point.

Leigh Lanham again was on top form and it will not be long before he goes into the main body of the team again top scoring on the night with 12.

Signs of form came from Joonas Kylmakorpi and Henning Bager and they should continue to grow in strength after amassing 7+3 and 6+1 respectively.

Coventry under-performed and had it not been for number one Scott Nicholls the defeat would no doubt have been greater as he scored 14 points.

After winning the Great British Final on Monday night, Bees' Chris Harris was unable to get used to the Hammers' track and he only managed to pick up 6+1.

Karlsson made an immediate impact, winning the first heat and the meeting started in style for the Hammers who had an 8-4 lead by the end of the second, thanks to excellent riding from reserve duo of Lanham and Hurry.

At one stage they were trailing at the back but somehow found something to make it a 4-2, Hurry crossing the line first.

Heat three saw the visitors narrow the deficit to two points but the margin was restored when Hurry took his second win of the night and Kylmakorpi took the vital third place.

Although the visitors again pulled the margin back to 16-14 the Hammers started to open up a gap with a 5-1 and 4-2 in consecutive heats.

They had further increased their advantage to ten by the end of heat 10 at 35-25.

But this meant the Bees could use a tactical rider in the remaining heats. Predictably Scott Nicholls was used but though he took the race win, the combination of Lanham and Kylmakorpi held off Billy Janniro.

Bees were in resilient mood though and got themselves back in with a chance of winning the meeting after a heat maximum in 12 but with consecutive 4-2 heat advantages the Hammers made the result safe.

Hammers sent their fans home happy with a last race 5-1 heat maximum from man of the night Lanham and Kylmakorpi followed him round with Nicholls unable to spoil the Hammers' party.

Lakeside Hammers 52: Peter Karlsson 11, Henning Bager 6+1, Adam Shields 8, Christian Hefenbrock 0, Joonas Kylmakorpi 7+3, Leigh Lanham 12, Paul Hurry 8.

Coventry Bees 41: Scott Nicholls 14, Billy Janniro 1, Rory Schlein 7, Morten Risager 3, Chris Harris 6+1, Marin Smolinski 6+1, Oliver Allen 4.

Heat-by-heat:

1: Karlsson, Nicholls, Bager, Janniro (4-2) (4-2) 58.0

2: Hurry, Allen, Lanham, Smolinski (4-2) (8-4) 58.9

3: Risager, Shields, Schlein, Hefenbrock (2-4) (10-8) 58.5

4: Hurry, Harris, Kylmakorpi, Allen (4-2) (14-10) 58.9

5: Nicholls, Shields, Janniro, Hefenbrock (2-4) (16-14) 57.4

6: Harris, Karlsson, Bager, Smolinski (fell exc) (3-3) (19-17) 58.3

7: Lanham, Kylmakorpi, Schlein, Risager (5-1) (24-18) 58.4

8: Bager, Allen, Hurry, Janniro (fell) (4-2) (28-20) 59.4

9: Shields, Smolinski, Harris, Hefenbrock (3-3) (31-23) 57.7

10: Karlsson, Schlein, Bager, Risager (4-2) (35-25) 58.4

11: Nicholls (tactical ride), Lanham, Kylmakorpi, Janniro (3-6) (38-31) 58.6

12: Schlein, Smolinski, Shields, Hurry (1-5) (39-36) 58.4

13: Karlsson, Nicholls, Kylmakorpi, Harris (4-2) (43-38) 58.2

14: Lanham, Smolinski, Hurry, Allen (4-2) (47-40) 58.3

15: Lanham, Kylmakorpi, Nicholls, Schlein (5-1) (52-41) 59.5

Hammers are next in action on Monday at Belle Vue and then return to the Raceway next Friday, June 15, with an Elite League clash against Eastbourne.