Lakeside Hammers 45, Coventry Bees 45

HAMMERS failed to claw back the 11 point deficit from Friday's first leg but through they failed to make it through to the Elite League Knock-out Cup they were far from disgraced against the newly crowned league champions.

The Hammers went into the meeting full of confidence performance at Brandon the previous evening. Coventry too, arrived with their heads high, not just from their league championship success but buoyed by the knowledge that they triumphed on the same track on their previous visit back in August.

The final result was not enough for the home side to go through - Coventry clinched the tie with a couple of heats to go - but provided further encouragement and knowledge in the fact of just how far the Lakeside stock has risen this season.

The Hammers left it late and fittingly, in a deserved nod to the quality of the encounter, the meeting was decided in the final heat when Adam Shields passed Chris Harris on the line to share the points.

Given just a short few hours following stock car practice earlier in the day, the track staff team worked wonders to prepare a racing strip that saw Andreas Jonsson shave two-tenths of a second off of his two-and-a-half year old track record.

The Hammers moved to within seven points on aggregate after just four heats and looked set to mount a stern challenge for the aggregate honours. The meeting remained tight, with Coventry generally making the better of the starts and the home side having to work hard on the first turn and from behind.

It was Jonsson who emphasised the determination in the home camp when he rode a great final lap to over haul Billy Janniro in the sixth race to keep up the chase.

Hammers lost ground in heat eight when Rory Schlein popped out of the gate to defeat Adam Shields - but the real damage was done in heats eleven and twelve when the Bees took a six point advantage to increased their aggregate lead and take the lead on the night, their haul proving unassailable after heat thirteen.

Leigh Lanham's victory in heat fourteen was backed up by a third for Andreas Messing after Steve Johnston retired - and the scores were level on the night.

A fantastic final race ensued, where two mesmerising clashes at both ends took place between the top four riders. Nicholls took the lead early on only to be chased down by Jonsson - while at the rear, Shields was passed by Harris on the opening lap.

With the final bend in sight, Jonsson made his move to pass Nicholls and the two crossed the line almost side by side. Behind, Shields appeared to edge inside Harris for the important point, which was confirmed by the meeting referee just a few seconds later to huge roars from the home faithful.

With the tie over, Hammers boss Jon Cook reflected thoughfully when he said: "We haven't disgraced ourselves tonight. Fair play to Coventry, they have been superb all season and deserve their place in the final.

"We lost some points in races that cost us and you can't do that against such a good team. But we're proud of ourselves, that's for sure - it shows how far we've come this season."

Hammers: 1. Andreas Jonsson 2 3 3 1' 2 11+1 2. Rider Replacement 3. Chris Louis (G) 3 3 2 1 9 4. Leigh Lanham 1 0 1' 1 3 6+1 5. Adam Shields (c) 3 3 2 2 2 1' 13+1 6. Ricky Kling 0 3 2' 0 0 0 5+1 7. Andreas Messing 0 X 0 1 1

Bees: 1. Scott Nicholls (c) 3 2 3 3 3 14 2. Rider Replacement 3. Chris Harris 2 2 2 3 0 9 4. Steve Johnston 0 1' 0 R 1+1 5. Rory Schlein 1 1' 3 3 0 8 1 6. Billy Janniro 1 2 1' 2 R 2' 8+ 2 7. Martin Smolinski 1' 0 1 1 2 5+1

Heat-by-Heat:

1: Nicholls, Jonsson, Janniro, Kling (2-4) (2-4) (43-56) 57.3

2: Kling, Janniro, Smolinski, Messing (3-3) (5-7) (46-59) 58.2

3: Louis, Harris, Lanham, Johnston (4-2) (9-9) (50-61) 57.8

4: Shields, Kling, Schlein, Smolinski (5-1) (14-10) (55-62) 58.7

5: Louis, Nicholls, Janniro, Lanham (3-3) (17-13) (58-65) 57.7

6: Jonsson, Janniro, Schlein, Messing (fell exc) (3-3) (20-16) (61-68) 58.2

7: Shields, Harris, Johnston, Kling (3-3) (23-19) (64-71) 57.3

8: Schlein, Shields, Smolinski, Messing (2-4) (25-23) (66-75) 58.2

9: Schlein, Louis, Lanham, Janniro (ret) (3-3) (28-26) (69-78) 58.5

10: Jonsson, Harris, Lanham, Johnston (4-2) (32-28) (73-80) 57.0 (new track record)

11: Nicholls, Shields, Smolinski, Kling (2-4) (34-32) (75-84) 57.6

12: Harris, Janniro, Louis, Kling (1-5) (35-37) (76-89) 57.7

13: Nicholls, Shields, Jonsson, Schlein (3-3) (38-40) (79-92) 57.3

14: Lanham, Smolinski, Messing, Johnston (ret) (4-2) (42-42) (83-94) 58.5

15: Nicholls, Jonsson, Shields, Harris (3-3) (45-45) (86-97) 57.9

HAMMERs are back in action on Monday in the Craven Shield against Reading and Peterborough at Reading and play host to Peterborough and Poole in the same competition next Friday.