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Elite League B Fixture : Monday 2nd August 2010
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The Hammers lost their unbeaten home league record against league leaders Poole despite taking the Pirates to a last heat decider in this live televised encounter.
The Essex men fell behind in the second heat and never regained the lead despite a mid meeting recovery that saw them make up early ground that had been lost as Poole continually provided the faster starters.
The early points went the way of the Pirates, who followed up a Darcy Ward opener to take a 5-1 in the second race when Stuart Robson was judged to have brought down Jason Doyle on the final turn as Leon Madsen led the way. They quickly followed this up with another advantage when Artur Mroczka passed Daniel Davidsson to deliver a Poole 4-2 with race winner Bjarne Pedersen.
Robson, the hero of two weeks ago, was eager to counter his second race exclusion and he did so in his usual style, passing Leon Madsen at the end of the first lap to prevent a further Poole advantage.
Ward's fast starting served him in good stead again in heat five but Jonas Davidsson was having none of it, riding an aggressive line into turn three to drive underneath the Aussie and ensure he chalked up his maiden victory of the evening. Despite the Hammers remaining six points down, that momentum spilled into the following race as Lee Richardson and Kauko Nieminen showed Davey Watt a clean pair of heels to pull their side back to within two points.
There was a strange affair in heat seven as Mroczka slid off on his own on the first turn and Hurry straightened up and collected Pedersen in a completely separate incident. After some deliberation, both riders were excluded with Hurry judged to have unfairly caused Pedersen to fall and Mroczka deemed to be not under power at the time of the race stoppage.
The ride of the night came in heat eight and it was no surprise that it was Robson that served it up. Trailing by yards from the start, he produced a brilliant few laps to fence scrape past Doyle and chase down Ward, overhauling him on the final lap. It was truly brilliant stuff and served to inject further excitement into a meeting that was starting to look as though it would go down to the wire.
There were further fireworks in heat ten when Richardson was visibly aggrieved as he Mroczka blocked his attempts to pass, through navigation error more then anything. Nonetheless, it left the Hammers a solitary point behind with every chance of taking the points with five heats remaining.
The next two heats didn't go according to home plans as Chris Holder produced his first win of the night to collect a 4-2 with Ward over Shields in heat eleven and Robson had to work hard to pass Madsen to prevent a Poole maximum in twelve. To the fore, then, came Lee Richardson, producing a very aggressive first corner to see off Holder and allow Shields through for a huge home 5-1 to keep the Lakesiders in touch.
The Hammers didn't turn a hoped-for advantage in heat fourteen into reality as Doyle kept Robson and Jonas Davidsson at bay for a vital Poole heat win. With all to play for in the final race, Holder got the drop and held on to win, leaving Richardson to pass Ward for little consolation as the Pirates took victory on the night.
 Related Link: Match Details
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