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Elite League B fixture : Friday 8th August @ 8pm
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It had to happen some time - the Lakeside Hammers, top of the league earlier in the week and unbeaten at home in the Elite League all season, succumbed to league rivals Swindon in a last heat decider.
It was just one of those nights for the Hammers where things just wouldn't get going. Leigh Lanham and Adam Shields had off nights by their high home standards and the returning Andreas Jonsson couldn't make a start all night, failing to win a heat.
In contrast, the Robins couldn't fail to make a start and in Leigh Adams and Jurica Pavlic had unbeaten performers. Adams' paid eighteen points maximum was perhaps less of a surprise given the ex-Hammer is usually a prolific scorer around the Purfleet Raceway - but Pavlic was particularly special.
The teenage Croatian star was simply outstanding, trapping to seven straight wins and a spectacular twenty-one points maximum. Only once was he outgated - by Davidsson in heat fourteen - but he simply breezed past within a lap to collect an otherwise untroubled maximum.
The two-man Robins outfit was enough to take victory and ultimately the home side's inability to match the Robins from the gate was their downfall. The Hammers won just two races all night and consistently struggled to gain any kind of advantage over the first twenty yards.
The meeting was tight throughout but Hammers missed two crucial opportunities to gain heat advantages early on. The first came when Shields held a 5-1 with Davidsson in heat three but had fuel problems; the second when Mills lost third place in a blanket finish with Troy Batchelor in heat four.
A superb 5-1 from Shields and Davidsson - both passing Batchelor - in heat nine levelled the scores at 27 points a-piece - but Pavlic and Adams won all of the remaining races. Adams snatched a 4-2 with James Wright after Leigh Lanham had bike problems in heat eleven and the Robins' captain teamed up with Batchelor for another over Jonsson in heat thirteen.
Hammers' only hope of salvaging a point for the draw was in the last - but the race was over after the first and second turns despite the efforts of Jonsson.
Hammers boss Jon Cook was typically thoughtful when asked for his views at the end of the meeting, commenting: "Maybe this will be a wake-up call - we've had such a fantastic run recently that it had to come to an end sometime.
"It was just one of those evenings when things didn't get going, but we can't blame the fact we are missing Ricky (Kling) or Lubos (Tomicek) as replacement Kauko Nieminen did a fantastic job for us with his paid fourteen points haul."
The Hammers still have so much to race for and ultimately all in the camp will believe they can recover from this with League, Knockout Cup and Craven Shield interest all to come.
 Related Link: First home league defeat for Hammers : Match Statistics
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