ADAM Shields' brilliant Heat 15 ride at Brandon ten days ago had earned his side an away point - but it was the Australian's misfortune in the reverse fixture which meant the Buildbase Bees got reward for their own efforts at Purfleet.
Shields had seemed set for a last-race 5-1 with the highly impressive Jonas Davidsson, only for the Hammers skipper to slow right down with mechanical trouble going into the third lap.
Edward Kennett and Rory Schlein took advantage for the Bees, but there was more drama when Kennett fell at the start of the last lap - quickly re-mounting to still make it home in third place ahead of Shields, who eventually stopped just short of the line.
It was enough to keep the Bees within six points on the night from their second successive 42-48 defeat on the road, which meant another Elite League point was banked from one of the tougher away venues.
Against a well dialled-in home side on a slick track, Bees had to work for almost all of their points and could be very satisfied with taking a point from the meeting, with Kennett and Schlein their top men on the night, and reserves Filip Sitera and Jordan Frampton picking up several useful points throughout the meeting.
Shields and Davidsson must be one of the best Heat 1 combinations in the Elite League, and they made a fast start for the Hammers with Chris Harris left chasing in the opening race, and unable to make a move on the opposition.
But Bees had their own race winner in Heat 2, Sitera leading from the gate and repelling the challenge of Stuart Robson, with Frampton exchanging places with Robert Mear before losing out for third place going into the second lap.
Sitera, as rider replacement, made another good start in Heat 3 with Kennett trying to join him around the outside - but Lee Richardson saw a gap on the inside going into turn three and dived through strongly to hit the front, with Sitera later doing well to hold back Mear.
Bees took two points off their early deficit in Heat 4 with Schlein flying from the gate and then holding Kauko Nieminen at bay, with Frampton defending third place from Robson, and the next race was shared as Harris and Ricky Wells both managed to overtake Robson, Harris coming through off the second bend on lap one and then Wells repeating the move two laps later.
Schlein managed to overcome the Shields/Davidsson combination in Heat 6 as the two Hammers riders were initially locked in combat with Sitera before eventually coming through at the end of the first lap, but Bees did manage to get themselves level in the next race. Kennett took his first win of the night, and the fast-gating Sitera again put himself well in contention and duly gained third again over Mear.
21-21 represented an excellent effort from the Bees, but they then appeared to lose their set-ups for a time following an extensive mid-meeting track re-grade, and Davidsson and Robson collected a 5-1 in Heat 8 with Robson taking a lap to clear Frampton before establishing himself in second place.
Heat 9 provided some hectic action on turn three with Nieminen leading a hotly-pursing Schlein and Richardson being squeezed out before trying to get back into contention on turn three but running out of room and hitting the fence.
With Richardson disqualified, Nieminen limited the damage for the home side in the re-run by impressively trapping on and heading home Schlein to maintain their four-point lead.
And four became eight in frustrating fashion for the Bees in Heat 10 with Kennett just fractionally behind Shields and Davidsson going into the first bend and being conclusively squeezed out by the home pairing.
There was a further talking point in Heat 11, which was again being led by Niemien ahead of Harris when Mear attempted to take third place from Sitera going into the second lap with a strong inside move.
Sitera went down under the challenge, with the replays showing that there had indeed been contact, at which point it was up to the referee to decide whether that contact had forced Sitera to go down. Christina Turnbull's verdict was that it had, and Mear was disqualified - although there had almost been a more serious incident immediately after, as Mear's move down the inside put him also on a collision course with Harris, who was cutting back off turn two, and the two made contact with both fortunately staying on their machines.
Nieminen again made a good job of the re-run to gate in front, with track conditions hardly suited to Harris's usual lines of attack, and that kept Lakeside eight points up and favourites for the extra point.
But Bees battled on and Heat 12 produced the racing highlight of the night with a brilliant ride by Kennett, after Richardson had initially repeated his Heat 3 move into the third bend. Kennett, though, raced after his ex-team mate, and after a number of passes and re-passes, finally got the job done conclusively on lap four - firmly but fairly, although his acknowledgment after the race was not reciprocated.
With Sitera again holding on to third place, it brought Bees back into play for a point, and they maintained that position in Heat 13 because although Shields was untroubled at the front, Schlein neatly trapped Nieminen on the inside coming off turn four to tuck in behind Harris for third place.
And although Davidsson had the speed to hold off an attack by Kennett in Heat 14, Frampton rode another sensible race for third, just holding off Mear over the finish line as the two came across almost together.
With Shields and Davidsson in the last race, Lakeside were probably still favourites for an advantage, and had just moved into a 5-1 position when Shields began to misfire - and despite Kennett's own late scare, Bees collected the 3-3 for an Elite League point, all of which could be vital come the end of the season.
LAKESIDE HAMMERS 48 Adam Shields 2* 2 2* 3 R = 9+1 Jonas Davidsson 3 1* 3 3 3 3 = 16+1 Lee Richardson 3 3 X 2 = 8 Joonas Kylmakorpi Rider Replacement Kauko Nieminen 2 2 3 3 0 = 10 Robert Mear 1* 0 0 X 0 = 1+1 Stuart Robson 2 0 0 2* 0 = 4+1
