The Hammers tracked Coventry asset and current GP rider Andreas Jonsson and, not that he needed to but he proved his speed around the Brandon shale by winning the 1st heat. In fact the Hammers notched up a 4-2 heat advantage, which was followed by a drawn heat in the next race.
Any fears that the Bees would suffer post championship winning lethargy were blown away as the team took charge of the meeting, establishing a 4 point lead by the end of heat 4.
However the Hammers had Simon Stead and Adam Sheilds ably backing up Jonsson who actually ran through the meeting unbeaten, which included a double points scoring heat win in heat 11.
The Bees strength in depth and their unwillingness to acept defeat provd to be the telling factor as by heat 12 the 11 point lead had been established courtesy of a 5-1 heat win from Bomber Harris and Martin Smolinski.
The final 3 heats were drawn with the result a Bees victory 52 points to 41.
The Bees scores for tonights meeting were as follows:
1. Scott Nicholls 2 3 3 1' 2 =11+1
2. Olly Allen RR
3. Chris Harris 3 2 3 3 =11
4. Steve Johnson 1 F 1 R =2
5. Rory Schlein 3 2 3 2 2 1' =13+1
6. Billy Janniro 0 2 1' 1' 3 =7+2
7. Martin Smolinski 1' 2' 1 F 2' 2' =8+4
The 2nd leg is tomorrow (Saturday) evening at the Hammers track in Purfleet, followed by a visit to local rivals Wolverhampton on Monday evening for the 3rd and final leg of the Craven Shield Trophy semi, where the Bees, Wolves and Ipswich Witches will contest the tie to see who goes through to the final. The current standings for this are Ipswich 64, Coventry 73 and Wolves 43.