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Elite League A Fixture : Monday 26th April 2010
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The Hammers suffered a defeat at the hands of a determined Belle Vue side, back to full strength following the intervention of volcanic ash. On arrival at the Belle Vue track the Hammers were greeted with blue skies and bright sunshine with the track appearing very wet in places, especially on the 1st/2nd bend.
After having lost the toss for gate positions the home side took 1 & 3 and Andersen and Wright sped to an opening heat 5-1 with Krzysztof Kasprzak very much on the pace. Stuart Robson then got into difficulty on the exit to the 2nd bend, losing control and going onto the centre area. He had caught his foot under the footrest and subsequently needed medical attention but, thankfully, he was able to take his remaining rides.
Heat 2 resulted in another home 5-1 with Paul Hurry taking a tumble entering the 1st bend. Unfortunately for the Hammers another maximum heat advantage occurred in the next heat although Kauko Nieminen had a go at splitting the home pair.
Heat 4 proved to be a big blow for the aspirations of the Hammers as Adam Shields also got into trouble entering the 1st bend. He appeared to catch the back wheel of Leigh Lanham resulting in them both taking nasty looking fallls. Adam appeared dazed but was eventually able to walk off the track but went straight into the medical room where he was joined by former Hammers rider Lanham. Both were subsequently withdrwan from the meeting on medical advice.
Lanham had a problem with his arm and a little finger whilst Shields was very much second hand. The resultant 5-1 meant the Hammers trailed 20-4 and were left without the services of their captain Shields for the remainder of the meeting.
Hammers Team Manager for the night, Alan Sargent, immediately introduced the Black and White helmet colour and Kasprzak did the required job by winning the race and Robson held off the Aces new signing, Tobias Kroner for third. That 7-2 for the Hammers reduced their deficit to 11 points but the home side hit back straight away with a 5-1 from their impressive pairing of Andersen and Wright over the Hammers 2 reserves as Daniel Davidsson was brought in to partner Paul Hurry.
At this stage, after 7 heats the Aces led by 17 points but as the track improved so did the scoring of the Hammers riders. In fact, over the next 7 heats prior to heat 15 the deficit was reduced albeit by only 2 points.
Robson and Daniel Davidsson got a share of the points in heat 8 and then "DD" came in to replace Shields in the next heat and repeated that result with Hurry. The home pairing of Andersen and Wright combined for the 3rd time to gain a maximum heat advantage in heat 10 to put the Aces 21 points up but following shared heats 11 and 12 (Nieminen scored 4 on a TR when finishing 2nd in heat 12) the Hammers took their own maximum 5-1 in heat 13, much to the disbelief of the Aces supporters, when Krzysztof and Paul defeated Andersen and PK.
What happened was that PK fell on his own accord on the 1st bend and Andersen slowed up mistakingly thinking the race would be stopped. By the time he realised that the red lights wern't coming on the Hammers pairing were away and clear.
DD claimed a fine win in the penultimate heat off the outside gate whilst his brother, Jonas, picked up his only point of the night by holding off Kroner.
The toss for heat 15 gate positions was lost by the Hammers Team Manager and the Aces took 1 & 3. Kasprzak appeared to just make the start but he was quickly overhauled by Andersen and PK although Nieminen seemed to be in a good position attempting to go round the outside of all 3 riders but it was all too tight and the home riders eventually pulled away. On his return to the pits Kasprzak showed everyone why he couldn't quite keep in front as his bars had worked loose and he was unable to fully control his machine.
Overall it was a spirited performance from the Hammers riders after the initial 4 heats especially as the reserves had to take 3 of Adams rides. DD improved as the meeting progressed and Hurry was always in there fighting for points. Nieminen, who appears very popular with the Aces fans, also put in a good performance.
 Related Link: Shields crashes out as Aces trump Hammers : Match Details
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