Hammers on teh rack against Eagles (From Thurrock Gazette)

Hammers on teh rack against Eagles

7:20pm Thursday 29th July 2010

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THE LAKESIDE Hammers found themselves on the rack against Eastbourne Eagles.

Arena Essex-based Hammers went down 53-40.

The loss came a day after the Hammers had logged a home win against Coventry, but at the Eastbourne Eagles Arlington Stadium it was a different matter.

Despite the Eagles lowly position in the League table they had managed to win seven out of their 11 home matches and had won their last three home matches.

The Hammers did go there, however, with some confidence having achieved a draw there in the Good Friday 'A' fixture.

The track appeared to be a lot slicker than usually seen at Arlington and it was obvious before a wheel had been turned that gating was going to be of vital importance.

Having lost the toss for gate positions the Eagles chose gates number two and four, which appeared to look the most favourable.

The home crowd were silenced when Lee and Kauko stormed to a very impressive 5-1 in the opening heat.

The home side immediately hit back with a 5-1 of their own.

The Hammers used the Rider Replacement for Daniel, who was at the track, but was unable to move his neck. Following Kauko's good start in heat 1 from the inside gate position it was decided to use him for the first rider replacement ride.

The Eagles took the lead with a 4-2 in heat 4 when Dryml outgated Robbo and with Adam Shields making a mess of the start Joonas Kylmakorpi picked up the third place.

Lee Richardson won the next heat but Kauko got squeezed out on the first bend in what resulted in a shared heat.

Kauko won heat 8 but Robbo fell when his engine gave way. Heat 9 was also shared as Adam claimed the win but Paul could not find any grip to put Kling and Woodward under pressure.

Robbo came out in heat 10 on Lee's second machine but Zagar took the win so the resultant 4-2 to the Eagles meant that the Hammers were now points in arrears.

Heat 13 looked likely to be the key to who took what League points. Zagar gated but Adam and Lee tucked in behind to claim a share of the points with JK appearing to struggle at the back.

That meant the Hammers were five points behind with two heats remaining.

A Hammers win was still a possibility but those thoughts were dashed in heat 14 when Gustafsson and Woodward made the starts and claimed a 5-1.

The hammers now needed a maximum heat advantage in the final heat.

The toss for gate positions was lost by the Hammers team manager and Eastbourne’s Zagar and Gustafsson squared up to Lee and Adam.

In the end it was an Eagles 5-1 which gave the home side victory by by 53-40.

It was another busy night for Robbo as, once again, he took the full compliment of seven rides, but with less success than on the gripier Arena-Essex Raceway the previous evening when he scored an incredible 17 points.

It was another Hammers evening of what might have been.

Even though the Eagles have been impressive around their Arlington track recently the Hammers side managed to keep things fairly close until the final few races.

Lakeside Hammers have to wait until August for their next track action.

On Monday August 2 they host Poole in an Elite League B clash.

But the action on August 5 will be away from home when Lakeside travel to Ipswich.

Action resumes at Arena Essex on Friday 6 August when Peterborough are the opponents.

And a week later on Friday 13 August Swindon will visit Essex.

Thursday August 19 sees the Hammers travel to Eastbourne for Knockout Cup action.

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