THE Buildbase Bees' good work of the last week was cancelled out by another home slip-up - with two former Coventry riders doing most of the damage.
A big score from Andreas Jonsson was always expected, especially bearing in mind the way he rode last season when visiting with the Hammers, but it was Joonas Kylmakorpi at reserve who was the main match-winner.
The Finn has clearly ridden himself out of the slump in form which saw his early-season average crash to 3.52, and he made a total mockery of that figure - as did Jonas Davidsson, whose previous Brandon average in team events, from nine meetings, was an almost unbelievable 2.78.
Or, put another way, Davidsson scored half as many points in one meeting than he had in his previous nine put together!
With Ricky Kling contributing some useful points in the other reserve berth, the Hammers had the strength they required to win, whilst the Buildbase Bees spent most of the night chasing set-ups and consequently chasing the Lakeside riders.
Gating is not a particular strength of this team as a whole, and the damage done by the injury to their most consistent gater, Olly Allen, was clear to see as the rider replacement facility brought in five (paid seven) points.
And on this occasion, unlike in the previous home match against Poole, the home riders were unable to come from the back on a consistent basis as Lakeside took full advantage of the conditions for a highly efficient away win, which in truth was only really threatened when Bees scored a succession of heat advantages mid-meeting.
Rory Schlein and Simon Stead both won their second and third rides, Schlein's paid-12 score being the brightest spot of the meeting from a Bees perspective, but it was not a night which will live long in the memory when ranked against others in the last three and a half seasons.
Jonsson held off a fierce challenge from Chris Harris to win Heat 1, the Bees skipper trying almost every line possible, and it was Stan Burza who ensured the scores stayed level early on as he took third place in that race ahead of Leigh Lanham, and then defeated Kylmakorpi - no mean feat as things turned out - to win the reserves' race.
Kylmakorpi, though, made short work of Heat 3 as Bees' first opportunity for a heat advantage fell by the wayside, and the Hammers hit the front in the next race when Davidsson and Kling shot clear of Stead on the first and second bends, the result being a formality by the time they entered the second lap.
Jonsson's sole defeat came at the hands of Schlein, who was rightly delighted with Heat 5 win, but Coventry's pleasure was tempered by the fact that Billy Janniro was edged out by Lanham off turn two and was unable to make a passing move for third place.
And when Davidsson and Kling hit the front again in Heat 6, things were beginning to look bleak although Harris did at least manage to split the paring with an outside pass on Kling at the end of the first lap.
Even so, Bees urgently needed to address the six-point deficit and they took two back in Heat 7, pressure from Ben Barker sending Lubos Tomicek wide on turn four, and as the Czech rider hit trouble Barker took third place behind Stead and Davidsson, who was beaten for the first time.
A further 4-2 followed in Heat 8 as Stead made it back to back wins, with Burza third on this occasion, and Bees levelled the scores in Heat 9 - although their 5-1 position was reduced to a 4-2 when Davidsson moved inside Janniro going into the last lap, Schlein taking his second win of the meeting.
Heat 10 was shared as rider replacement Jonsson - the Hammers took an impressive eleven points from their rides for the injured Adam Shields - got clear of Harris in the early stages, and the first crushing blow for the Bees came in Heat 11 when Jonsson and Kylmakorpi both made the start ahead of Stead and Burza, who could make no impression on the Hammers pairing.
To have a realistic chance, Bees simply had to take something from Heat 12 against the Lakeside reserves, but Kylmakorpi built on his previous success by taking another win, charging across from the outside gate to defeat Burza and Schlein.
And it was virtually game over after a dramatic Heat 13 which saw Bees' hopes raised for the most part, Stead holding the race lead and Harris desperately trying to protect the 5-1 situation over Jonsson.
Jonsson, however, knew exactly where to place himself on turns three and four - he made identical moves last October in the Knockout Cup - and first surged inside Harris at the end of lap three, and one lap later he made the same manoeuvre on Stead, the Bees man falling under the challenge to allow Davidsson through for third place and put the Hammers six clear.
There was no great escape on this occasion for the Bees as Kylmakorpi led from tapes to flag in Heat 14, Janniro retiring having borrowed Harris's bike, and although Kylmakorpi was roughed out of Heat 15 in a tight first couple of bends by Harris and Schlein, Jonsson was away and gone yet again to complete a 17-point haul on his former home track.
From the strong home form of 2006 and 2007, where the only blips were one defeat and one draw on each occasion, Bees already have two home defeats and a draw in 2008 - which cranks up the pressure on the away matches once more, and makes it imperative that subsequent Brandon matches do not produce similar outcomes to this one.
The Belle Vue draw was a giveaway; the Eastbourne and Lakeside defeats were too similar for anyone's liking, and there will be plenty to discuss and work on during this enforced two-week break before the Bank Holiday double against Peterborough.
BUILDBASE BEES Chris Harris 2 2 2 2 2 = 10 Olly Allen Rider Replacement Rory Schlein 2 3 3 1* 1* = 10+2 Billy Janniro 1* 0 1 1* R = 3+2 Simon Stead 1 3 3 1 F = 8 Stan Burza 1* 3 0 1 0 2 2 = 9+1 Ben Barker 0 0 1 = 1