COVENTRY completed the 2009 season on a losing note as Lakeside left Brandon with the Knockout Cup - their first-ever item of top-flight silverware.
The Hammers had done their hard work at Purfleet in running up a 59-36 first leg win, and their aggregate position never looked under threat.
The Buildbase Bees could point to several items of misfortune as a reason for being defeated on the night, but it was not by good fortune that Lakeside won this tie over two legs.
The cold statistics at the end of the season are that after beating eventual Elite League champions Wolverhampton 47-43 at the end of August, Bees have ridden eleven matches, drawing two and losing nine.
After so many seasons of finishing strongly with silverware at the end, it comes a surprise - and not a pleasant one - to go out on a low, with no trophies in the cabinet for the first time since 2004.
Injuries have dogged the Bees all season, and putting a consistent one-to-seven on track has been a major problem. It was right to the end, too, with Rory Schlein ruled out after his crash in the 16-lapper at Ipswich, whilst Olly Allen's mid-meeting spill also saw him taken to hospital, and left them short on numbers for the closing races of the meeting.
Allen apart, who came down in his third ride, all of the other Bees won at least one race - including both reserves - and some signs for the club's future were clearly on show, but there was no doubting the disappointment of the immediate loss.
A series of early 5-1s were required to see how the Hammers could respond to any pressure, but the visitors contained well and would have been relatively happy to be just four points down on the night after the opening exchanges on a track on which they have not been at their best this season.
Tom P Madsen's tape-breaking in Heat 1 allowed Lee Richardson to start inside Chris Harris - with Madsen shifted to the outside off 15-metres - but the Bees skipper made the outside work into the third bend after riding level for the early stages of the race.
Ben Barker's third place got Bees off and running with an advantage, but the reserves' race was shared with Madsen collecting a useful third place ahead of Ricky Wells. The action, though, was at the front with Josh Auty providing the excitement as having first passed Madsen into turn three, he chased Stuart Robson and took the verdict on the line after making his move on the outside.
Jonas Davidsson, off the pace in recent individual meetings at Brandon, was an easy winner of Heat 3 as Edward Kennett re-passed Kauko Nieminen on the second lap, and Bees grabbed another 4-2 in Heat 4 with Barker surging to the front ahead of Adam Shields and Auty again doing it from the back, passing Robson on the second lap.
Just when Bees appeared to be in a 5-1 position in Heat 5, Allen was overtaken first by Richardson and then by Robson, and although he seemed to have taken third place back going into the third bend he overslid, and Robson gratefully accepted the point.
Barker repeated his Heat 4 move over Shields in the next race but the Hammers skipper was then content to block out Harris, leaving Bees only six-up when really they needed have double that as their margin.
And that was as good as it got, because after Kennett took his second win of the night in a shared Heat 7, rider-replacement Nieminen produced the goods in Heat 8 to end Barker's winning run with Robson this time holding off Auty for the Hammers' first advantage of the night.
Heat 9 was the end of meeting for Allen, who attempted to go wide on Shields off turn two, but slid slightly too far, clipped the edge of the fence and was then flung heavily from his machine. Although he was able to walk from the track, he was taken to hospital for x-rays on his shoulder - and Lakeside were almost home and dry.
Shields commenced a most impressive run of wins by heading Kennett home in the re-run, and Barker was then denied by the Nieminen/Davidsson combination in Heat 10 with Harris up-front, and that meant Lakeside were only two-down on the night with Bees having to field both of their reserves in the next two races.
Only mathematics were going to stop the Cup from being decided, but the Hammers made sure in Heat 11, needing only a 3-3 but actually recording a 4-2. A 5-1, in fact, looked the likely outcome from the start as Shields and Richardson were paired against Auty and Wells, but Auty was again up for a battle and another praiseworthy ride saw him go past Richardson at the start of the last lap, not that it was going to stop the Hammers' celebrations.
Bees already knew their luck was out but it got worse in Heat 12 when Wells made a good start and led Nieminen and Robson, with Auty battling to spit the Hammers until he caught the fence at the end of lap two and came down, and was unable to clear the track with the bike trapped on top of him. The re-run went according to the regular speedway script as the Lakeside riders gated, and a 5-1 put them four-up on the night.
That became six in Heat 13 when Harris was out-gated by Shields and Richardson, and although he passed Richardson into lap two the Lakeside skipper had enough in hand, despite Harris reeling him in late on - with the ever-trying Auty just missing out to Richardson on the line.
At 36-42, Bees at least looked set to take things to a last-heat decider when their regular source of points, Heat 14, promised a 5-1 for two laps with Wells again gating and riding up-front with Kennett - but Kennett then ground to a halt, and Wells' race win over Davidsson and Madsen was mere consolation as the Hammers had won on the night.
Shields, who dropped just two points across the tie, finished the job off with a win over Harris in Heat 15 with Nieminen, also a key figure in the Lakeside middle-order, in third place.
Then it was celebration time for the men from Purfleet, beaten in the Craven Shield Final at Brandon this time last season - but what a difference a year makes, and Bees will now go into the winter break plotting their strategy for recovery in 2010.
BUILDBASE BEES 41 Chris Harris 3 1 3 2 2 = 11 Ben Barker 1 3 3 2 0 = 9 Olly Allen 2 0 X = 2 Edward Kennett 1* 3 3 2 R 0 = 9+1 Rory Schlein Rider Replacement Ricky Wells 0 0 0 1 3 = 4 Josh Auty 3 1 0 2 X 0 = 6
LAKESIDE 49 Lee Richardson 2 2 1 1 = 6 Joonas Kylmakorpi Rider Replacement Kauko Nieminen 0 2 3 2 3 1 = 11 Jonas Davidsson 3 1* 1* 2 = 7+2 Adam Shields 2 2 3 3 3 3 = 16 Tom P Madsen 0 1* 0 1 1* = 3+2 Stuart Robson 2 0 1* 1 2* = 6+2
