LAKESIDE exacted swift revenge over Coventry with a resounding 60-33 win in Saturday’s Elite League encounter at the Arena-Essex Raceway.
Whereas the Buildbase Bees had raced to a convincing win over the Hammers at home 24 hours, their weakened team was unable to make any serious impression in the return at Purfleet, against a Hammers side perfectly dialled-into their own circuit.
Already missing Josh Bates – who has qualified for the World Under-21 Final after scoring 12 points in Germany – Bees were dealt a further blow with the absence of Jason Garrity, who was left battered and bruised following his heavy Heat 11 crash on Friday.
Garrity had scored 15+1 on his last visit to Lakeside, but the rider replacement facility only saw a Bees rider defeat opponents once – although that was a six-point tactical ride effort from Danny King in Heat 5.
King was the Bees’ star performer on the night with that double-points ride seeing him move past Piotr Swiderski going into the second lap, and he also took a notable win over home No.1 Andreas Jonsson in Heat 11.
Krzysztof Kasprzak added two race wins after a troubled start to the meeting, but on this occasion it was Lakeside who were by far the more solid side as they raced to a total of seven 5-1s during the evening.
Three of them came in the first four races as Bees found themselves 18-6 down, their only minor success in that period coming when King and Chris Harris kept Richard Lawson at the back in Heat 3.
King’s tactical ride win narrowed the gap to nine, and Harris won the next race, but two more Lakeside 5-1s saw them establish total control of the meeting.
Kasprzak and King took successive wins for Coventry in Heats 10 and 11 but James Sarjeant crashed out of the second reserves’ race after a clash with Robert Mear – the referee deeming there to have been no contact - and Lewis Kerr completed a paid maximum for the Hammers in the re-run.
Kasprzak got the better of Jonsson and Kim Nilsson in Heat 13 before a promising start for the Bees in the next was ended by Lewis Bridger’s back straight move on King and guest Leigh Lanham.
And the home side duly hit the 60-point mark with a 5-1 from Bridger and Jonsson in the last, leaving the Bees with just one point from their four away matches so far this season.
Bees boss Gary Havelock said: “It’s really disappointing. We weren’t at the races at all today, probably with the exception of Danny.
“It was always going to be difficult when Jason pulled out this morning because he’s such a good rider on these small, technical tracks, but we just didn’t get at them.
“The track was quite patchy to begin with, and really bumpy, and the boys were struggling to find the smooth line. They changed things and KK had a few good rides towards the end, but really we were never in it.â€
LAKESIDE 60: Lewis Bridger 12+2, Andreas Jonsson 11+2, Lewis Kerr 10+2, Kim Nilsson 9+1, Piotr Swiderski 8+2, Robert Mear 7+2, Richard Lawson 3+1. BUILDBASE BEES 33: Danny King 13+1, Krzysztof Kasprzak 8, Chris Harris 4+1, Leigh Lanham 4, James Sarjeant 3, Kacper Woryna 1, Jason Garrity r/r.
