THE HAMMERS claimed three vital Elite League points in their quest to finish in the play-off positions with a last heat 4-2 over a patched up Wolverhampton side.
The visitors arrived minus their number one Fredrik Lindgren and other members of the side including Adam Skornicki and Nicolai Klindt. But with Peter Karlsson booked in as a guest and always good value at the Arena Raceway, the visitors were determined to put on a show and continue their good record around the Essex track.
Hammers themselves were still missing new signing Peter Ljung but did welcome Lubos Tomicek back into the fold as number eight and Chris Neath, who performed so well back in 2007 for the Hammers, in for the injured Paul Hurry.
The first few heats were fairly uniform, from-the-gate affairs with the Hammers enjoying the early benefits from the starting gates to race into an eight point lead. This included a surprise 5-1 in heat three for Jonas Davidsson and Kauko Nieminen over Tai Woffinden, who try as he might could not find a way past Hammers’ Scandinavian duo.
Heat five saw the first real element of disappointment for the home side as Kauko Nieminen was dumped to the floor on the first turn of asking. He was reinstated by the meeting official but fell in almost the exact same position in the re-run on his own and was excluded. The re-run saw Karlsson and race partner Ty Proctor gain revenge with their own maximum heat advantage over Davidsson.
Stuart Robson was in the wars in heat six when he spun off on the second turn having made his usual great effort to see off Ludvig Lindren – only for Lindgren to clatter into him as popular Robbo cam to grief. Thankfully both riders were quickly on their feet and Lee Richardson took his second win of the night in the re-run.
Lindren made a re-appearance in heat eight and a quick start saw him join Proctor at the front of the heat. It took some determined riding from the lively Nieminen to get past him on the third lap and prevent Wolves from drawing level with a 5-1.
Nieminen produced another fine ride in heat nine to defeat the speedy Woffinden and edge the Hammers a further two points in front. The same score was repeated in the following race when Tomicek was given a rider replacement outing and rode hard to edge out Wolves guest Ulrich Ostergaard as Richardson took his third win of the night.
The dynamic pairing of Karlsson and Proctor took another 5-1 in heat eleven – this time over Adam Shields – to keep Wolves firmly in touch, not just for the extra league point for also the meeting itself. Thankfully Robson, who by this point had seen both of his engines suffer blow-ups, scrapped to third place on borrowed Richardson machinery as Nieminen continued his winning streak.
With three heats to go Richardson popped out of the gate to defeat Karlsson in thirteen as Shields saw off fellow countryman Proctor, putting the Hammers six points up. Davidsson and Robson then filled the minor placings in the penultimate race as Woffiden took his only win of the night before Richardson completed a resounding full maximum in the final race. All eyes were Nieminen as he battled with Karlsson for the vital third place which he duly got, sending the Hammers, their fans, and team boss Jon Cook home happy with the haul of those three league points.
