HAVING picked up four vital Elite League points the previous night with a 50-43 win at Ipswich Witches, Lakeside Hammers continued their unbeaten home form on Friday by sinking leaders Poole Pirates 53-40.

This clash between Hammers and the top dogs lived up to expectations with some cracking racing, plenty of incident, and three more points for the Essex men to cement second place.

The scoreline belies the superiority of the Hammers against the fairly luckless Pirates, who started proceedings minus top star Darcy Ward and saw their skipper Davey Watt endure a nightmare meeting.

Returning home, number one Lee Richardson got his comeback off to a lively start by passing former Hammer Gary Havelock in the opening race behind Chris Holder, giving the Pirates an opening advantage.

Daniel Davidsson has been nigh on unbeatable from the start in recent weeks for Hammers, and The Swede certainly did not disappoint, jetting from the gate to take the flag.

The Pirates had a 5-1 in heat three before Kauko Nieminen and Jonas Davidsson overhauled Jason Doyle. That sparked a series of heats where Hammers demonstrated their prowess from the back, often passing their rivals after missing out the start.

Heat five was a cracking example with Doyle gating and Chris Holder trying everywhere on the track to hang on for a Pirates heat advantage.

He was eventually overhauled by Jonas Davidsson, who joined Nieminen for a 3-3 shared race.

Stuart Robson passed Leon Madsen in heat six for a 4-2 with Richardson before Paul Hurry produced a masterclass to pass both Doyle and Bjarne Pedersen to put the Hammers 12 points to the good.

Hurry was rewarded for his efforts in heat eight when he replaced Robson in what was a disastous race for the Pirates.

Skipper Watt was nominated by Poole boss Neil Middleditch for a tactical ride, but fell on the fourth turn while chasing Daniel Davidsson. His exclusion allowed Davidsson and Hurry to increase the lead with another 5-1, this time over Havelock.

Things did not get any better for Watt when he was excluded under the two minutes’ time allowance after being found not having his dirt deflector attached to his rear wheel.

When the race got underway, Leon Madsen jetted from the gate, but was chased down gradually by Jonas Davidsson and passed in a dramatic finish over the line.

The tide turned a little in heat 11 when Holder, riding in the black/white helmet, scored a doubled up six points as Madsen took third place.

This 7-2 to the Pirates was followed by a 5-1 to the Dorset men as Madsen joined Pedersen for a 5-1 over Nieminen and Daniel Davidsson.

Richardson’s third win was followed by an incident packed penultimate race which was stopped at the first time of asking after Doyle and Hurry clashed on the home straight and crashed alarmingly.

After some attention on track, both men took to their feet with Doyle excluded as the primary cause of the stoppage and Hurry choosing not to come out for the re-run with reports of a damaged finger or two.

The re-run itself was another excellent heat which saw Jonas Davidsson reel in and pass Madsen on the final lap to huge cheers from the home crowd.

That just left Richardson and Shields to slot in behind Holder in the final race, their side already assured of the full quota of league points.