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Elite League B Fixture : Monday 19th July 2010
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The Hammers missed out in this rain-affected clash against Belle Vue at Kirkmanshulme Lane.
The home side won the toss and the Hammers were given gates 2 & 4. Lee and Kauko made the start to put them in a 5-1 situation but then Kauko made a mistake exiting the second bend and found himself at the back. Lee went on to win the heat, which was shared.
The home team reserves then gated off 2 & 4 but Ostergaard pulled up with a bike problem. The 4-2 in favour of the Aces put them 2 points up. That increased to 6 when Hougaard and Lee Lanham got a 5-1 against the Davidsson brothers in the next heat.The Hammers captain, Adam Shields, then made the start from the outside gate position in heat 4 but Stuart Robson got filled in at the back. Lee and Kauko again got to the first bend in heat 5 in the front but again Kauko made a mistake coming out of the second bend. Lee went on to win the race but Kauko could not make up the lost ground.
The Aces increased their lead to 10 points with a 5-1 from PK and Grajczonek in heat 7 ahead of the Davidsson brothers. The Hammers Team Manager decided against using the black and white helmet colour in the next race as Kauko had failed to score and Robbo had only picked up a single point in the reserves race when Ostergaard had bike problems. He preferred to wait until the next race when Adam Shields would have been nominated. However, Kauko sped into the lead and although Ostergaard managed to hold off Robbo the Hammers gained a 4-2 heat advantage reducing their deficit to 8 points and, therefore, not allowing the Tactical Ride from Adam in the next heat.
Everyone agreed that Jon had made the correct decision at the time based on the earlier races. Adam and Paul Hurry then combined for a Hammers 5-1 in heat 9 to further reduce their deficit to just 3 points. By this time the rain was beginning to affect the track even more and it was disappointing to see the Davidsson brothers on the wrong end of their third 5-1 of the evening in heat 10. That put the Aces lead back up to 8 points but that reduced down to 6 points following Kauko claiming his second win of the night in heat 11. he did this the hard way by passing PK on the outside down the back straight of the opening heat. The veteran Swede then showed all his years of experience by keeping lee behind him for the remainder of the race.
Jon decided to replace Daniel Davidsson with Robbo in heat 12 and this paid off as Robbo gained the win but Paul Hurry was kept at the back. By now the only racing line was right up against the fence. With 12 heats completed everyone knew that there would be a result and the referee decided that the conditions were good enough for the riders for heat 13 to come out. Hans Andersen got round the outside of lee to get the win and with Adam tailed off at the back the resultant 4-2 took the Aces lead up to 8 points with 2 races to go. Andersen's winning time was 7 seconds off the track record and just under 4 seconds slower than the opening heat.
Hougaard won heat 14 ahead of Robbo but Jonas Davidsson was tailed off at the back behind Grajczonek. That home 4-2 meant that the Hammers needed a 5-1 in the final heat to claim one League point. However, the track was now very wet and riders were only able to race right up against the fence. Following discussions with Hougaard, the winner of heat 14, and the two captains it was agreed that the conditions were too dangerous to continue and the referee, therefore, abandoned the meeting. The result, however, stands.
It was a disappointing end of proceedings for the Hammers team as they did look capable of picking up a League point in the mid stages of the meeting. In fact if Kauko had managed to get the right line out of the second bend in his opening two races he could have finished on 10 points and a Hammers win could have been on the cards. In the end it was not to be and everyone then had the long trip back South wondering what could have happened if the rain hadn't ruined the meeting. Lee and Adam looked impressive when they made the start and Robbo certainly gave it a go when the conditions deteriated. Paul had a couple of good races but the Davidsson brothers, Jonas and Daniel, disappointed. They didn't make the starts and simply couldn't recover from those positions in the ever increasing difficult conditions.
 Related Link: Match Details
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