|
Craven Shield : Friday 28th March 2008 @ 8pm
|
The Lakeside Hammers returned to winning ways on the eve of their Elite League campaign with this thumping Craven Shield victory over Peterborough.
The usual midday deluge of heavy rain soaked the Arena circuit - and once again the Hammers' track staff worked their magic to ensure that the track was ready for the teams to do battle.
One big difference from last week's clash against Ipswich was the performance of the home side, who dusted themselves down and got stuck into their opponents from the start with gritty determination.
Gritty and determined could also be aptly used to describe the current form of Leigh Lanham, who ripped past Hans Andersen in a re-run opening heat to set a standard for his team-mates to follow. And follow they did too, in often spectacular fashion as they plotted their way around the opening turns in an attempt to better their opponents.
Lanham's opening salvo with Andreas Jonsson - who remarkably equalled the track record - was quickly followed by another maximum, this time through Ricky Kling and Lubos Tomicek. The duo got the drop at the third attempt after Panthers' Claus Vissing had been thrown out for two tapes offences.
Adam Shields' evening was a literal tale of two halves as he struggled early on, taking two uncharacteristic tumbles - the second of which came as he led heat five. Peterborough had similar problems of their own as Daniel King suffered the same fate ahead of Tomicek in heat four.
Jonsson and Lanham slammed in another 5-1 in heat six to move the Hammers fourteen points to the good, leaving Panthers boss Trevor Swales to successfully nominate Kenneth Bjerre for double points and ensure reward with a converted 8-1 advantage in the seventh race.
Hammers' took further opportunities to move ahead with maximums after the turn and a solitary win for the usually dominant Hans Andersen in heat eleven halted what would have been a run of five Hammers 5-1's.
Jonsson completed a full fifteen pointer with victory over Bjerre and Andersen from the tapes in the final race, leaving Lanham to trail at the back and end what would have been a richly deserved full house.
The Lakeside boys now travel to the East of England Showground next week hoping for a result to secure Craven Shield qualification. It's a week that sees the start of the Elite League campaign and one that Jon Cook is pleased to commence with this victory under his team's belt.
"The boys have responded fantastically well to last week's defeat and really got stuck in tonight," said Cook.
"It's remarkable to think that we spent 3 to 4 hours simply getting water off of the track to make it raceable for tonight and that's a huge testimony to our track staff.
"This result has given us some confidence as we look to begin our Elite League campaign up at Belle Vue on Monday."
 Related Link: Hammers return to winning ways : Scorechart and Match Facts
| 
