INJURIES to Chris Harris and Olly Allen overshadowed the Buildbase Bees' latest home defeat - as the Hammers showed again why they are amongst this year's title favourites.
The visitors also lost a rider during an incident-packed evening, Leigh Lanham coming off worst in a Heat 8 tangle, but their strength from top to bottom was clear to see.
The Hammers ran just three last places all evening, a perfect recipe to win meetings and one of the ways in which Bees had so much success in recent years.
Lakeside had taken a comfortable 49-41 win at Brandon back in May, and although their eventual margin on this occasion was more emphatic, it was a better Bees performance - but losing two of their top five was always going to leave them short.
Allen damaged his shoulder in a first-bend crash in Heat 6 when he lost it on the outside, whilst Harris suffered an even faster entry into the fence four heats later as he was trying to complete a trademark third to first swoop.
The Bees skipper had overtaken Joonas Kylmakorpi around the outside and was looking to line up Adam Shields for a similar move, but he was suddenly out of shape between the first and second bends and set for a heavy trip into the fence.
Harris was down for a lengthy period before being placed onto a back-board and taken to hospital, with everyone hoping that the x-rays reveal good news.
As far as the meeting was concerned, referee Jim Lawrence had to award Lakeside a 5-1 to put them into a four-point lead, and it was fairly inevitable thereafter that the visitors would extend their lead.
The opening races had been full of drama, Allen taking Andreas Jonsson wide on the first bend of Heat 1 allowing Harris to set up a 5-1 position, only for Allen to run wide himself next time around and drop to the back.
Harris held on for the win, and Bees should have taken the lead in Heat 2 only for Ben Barker, who was well clear, to suffer a loose plug cap on the third lap and go to the back himself.
With a succession of errors being made from the remaining riders, Andreas Messing found a way inside Ricky Kling at the start of the last lap to win the race, and the shared heats were maintained when Shields held off the first-bend attentions of Simon Stead in Heat 3 as team-mate Kylmakorpi lost power away from the start-line.
Lakeside were in front with a 4-2 in Heat 4, Rory Schein splitting Jonas Davidsson and Tomicek but Barker missing the start, and there was then another series of shared heats.
Jonsson made it around Billy Janniro off the second bend in Heat 5, Harris got the better of Davidsson in the re-run of Heat 6 after Allen's crash, and Lakeside then contrived to lose a 5-1 position in Heat 7, first when Shields and Kylmakorpi almost tangled at the start of lap two allowing Schlein to pass the Finn, and then the Bees man took the lead when Shields hit the fence at the end of the lap.
Heat 8 provided a congested fourth bend with the Hammers holding a 1-2 situation, only for Messing to clatter into the back of Lanham and bring both riders down heavily. Messing was able to walk away, but Lanham was not so fortunate and took no further part in the meeting, and in the re-run Barker at least managed to split the Lakeside reserves.
Bees needed a lift and they got it in Heat 9 with an excellent 5-1 from Stead and Janniro, who were out-gated by Davidsson but made it past the Swede on consecutive bends before the end of the first lap.
That brought the scores level, but Harris's crash in Heat 10 totally took the wind out of their sails, and Lakeside's resultant 5-1 was added to by 4-2s in the next two races with race wins by Jonsson and the impressive Shields, and key third places from their reserves, who generally had control on that department of the meeting.
When Schlein spun and fell exiting turn two in Heat 13, the meeting was virtually all over as Jonsson and Davidsson raced clear to put the Hammers into a 45-33 lead.
Janniro fought to the end and took a tactical ride in Heat 14, superbly rounding Tomicek and Kylmakorpi on the first lap to bring home six points for the Bees.
And he managed an even better win in Heat 15, when he held off the attentions of Jonsson who was squeezed out on the first bend and worked his way through into second place - but on this occasion he could not pass the Bees man.
Those last two races provided some consolation, but it was another difficult night and Bees' immediate priority will be in getting a team together to face Wolverhampton for what is a crunch clash at Brandon on Friday.
BUILDBASE BEES 42 Chris Harris 3 3 X = 6 Olly Allen 0 X = 0 Simon Stead 2 1* 3 2 = 8+1 Billy Janniro 1* 2 2* 6^ 3 = 14+2 Rory Schlein 2 3 2 F 0 = 7 Andreas Messing 3 0 X 1 0 0 = 4 Ben Barker 0 0 2 0 1 = 3
