Andreas Jonsson won the 2016 Lakeside Vortex Hammers Spring Trophy in their pre-season warm up fixture ahead of the new Elite League season.
Jonsson remained unbeaten throughout the night with five race victories from five including the final and was the standout rider of the night.
In the winner takes all grand finale it featured four of this year’s Lakeside riders for the upcoming season, as Richard Lawson finished second and Kim Nilsson in third.
Former Hammers Stuart Robson, Ben Morley and Leigh Lanham returned as guests for the meeting to face the spritely Lakeside team ahead of their bank holiday opener.
Grand finalist Piotr Swiderski kicked proceedings off with victory in heat one. Lawson took heat two from the first bend, despite constant pressure from his teammate Edward Kennett who settled for second.
AJ stamped his authority on the evening with his opening win, after he overtook Nilsson on the third bend of the first lap.
Lawson got his second victory of the night, after gating in front and held off the threat of returning Hammer Lewis Bridger.
Nilsson won heat five and AJ got his second victory of the night at the second attempt after his unsatisfactory start in heat six, ahead of Swiderski in second.
At the halfway stage occupying the top four spots were, AJ and Lawson joint on six points with Swiderski and Nilsson on five points.
Ben Morley (Left), Leigh Lanham (Inside Left), Stuart Robson (Inside Right), Robert Mear (Right)
Robson got his first race win of the night in heat seven, ahead of Morley and Lanham.
AJ then made it a hat-trick of wins in heat eight the hard way, as D Jonsson lead until the fourth bend on lap two when AJ swept round the outside to take the victory.
Kennett then pressed to his first victory of the night with his offensive style, as Nilsson came second and Swiderski third.
AJ won heat ten for his fourth race win from four, which secured his place in the winner takes all final and set the fastest time of the evening in 58.9 seconds.
Bridger took heat 11 to give him a chance to get in the grand finale finishing on seven points, after Kennett fell on lap two.
In the final heat, Lawson gated first and won which put him into the final. Nilsson came second which also put him through and Swiderski finished third.
AJ topped the heat scoring with 12 points, Lawson came second with 10 points, Nilsson in third with 9 points and Swiderski and Bridger on 7 points each.
Swiderski sneaked into the final on head-to-head, as he beat Bridger in the opening heat to put him into the final alongside AJ, Lawson and Nilsson.
In the grand finale, Lawson gated first and lead for the first three laps with AJ in hot pursuit. Lawson then lost control on the third bend on lap three and AJ’s outside manoeuvre replicated from heat eight worked again to take the victory and the 2016 Spring Trophy.
The Hammers are now raring to go, as the season starts with an away trip to the Kings Lyn Stars on Thursday 24th March before the Good Friday reverse fixture at the Raceway at 1pm.
Coach Kelvin Tatum spoke to me at the Press and Practice day on Thursday ahead of the new season: