LAKESIDE suffered a heartbreaking exit from the Elite League Knockout Cup on Saturday when they went down 54-39 to Eastbourne in the second leg at Arlington, a scoreline that gave the Sussex club a 95-91 aggregate victory.

The teams were level on aggregate going into the last heat but the home pairing of Lee Richardson and Lewis Bridger snatched a 5-1 over Hammers guest duo Rory Schlein and Kevin Doolan to book their place in the final.

Lakeside fans will be left wondering what the outcome might have been but for a series of horrendous injuries that robbed them of the services of Jonas Davidsson, Joonas Kylmakorpi and Adam Shields whilst Andreas Jonsson was away in Latvia competing in the latest Grand Prix round.

The Eagles were missing their own GP rider, Scott Nicholls but otherwise, they were able to track their regular side. Their opponents were well served by their guest trio, particularly Ipswich heat leader Rory Schlein who turned in a superb showing returning 16-points from his 6 outings that included a 6-pointer in heat 12 when the Hammers fired in an 8-1 to haul themselves back into the meeting.

Kevin Doolan also acquitted himself with credit sharing a heat seven 5-1 with Schlein before winning heat 14 to orchestrate a 4-2 and set up the last heat decider. Billy Janniro also made a bright start to proceedings, enjoying a win and a 5-1 in heat four though machinery problems appeared to blight the latter part of his evening.

The Eagles man of the match was arguably under-fire Bridger who had suffered a number of machine problems and verbal disagreements with the Eastbourne management in recent weeks but reportedly mounted on new machinery, the teenager starred in no fewer than five of the six 5-1’s that the home side enjoyed through the evening.

Richardson won four races from his six outings including the all-important decider when he teamed up with Bridger for heat 15 maximum to clinch the tie for the home side.

Bridger blazed away from the tapes in the opener to take the win whilst Cameron Woodward just held off Janniro for a maximum heat win and, for a time, it appeared that heat two might go the same way.

Stefan Gustafsson and James Brundle gated together whilst Ricky Kling made an uncharacteristically poor start but the Swedish Hammer swiftly made amends swooping past Brundle down the back straight on the first lap although he was unable to trouble the fast-starting Gustafsson.

Having reduced the 11-points deficit from the first leg to 5 points after just two races, Eastbourne were hit hard in heat 3 when Schlein raced home ahead of Woodward and Richardson.

Kennett hit the dirt on the first turn in heat 4 and referee Christina Turnbull had no hesitation in ruling out the Eagle from the rerun as Janniro and Kling capitalised with a 5-1 that reduced the difference to just 2-points on the night (13-11).

Eastbourne responded with successive 4-2’s through Richardson and Woodward over Schlein and then Kennett and Bridger were separated by Janniro to give the homesters a 21-15 lead on the night but a 67-62 deficit on aggregate.

The impressive Schlein then collected a heat 7 victory in race seven when Doolan worked his way past both James Brundle and Kennett in turn to anchor the 5-1 that narrowed the difference to just 2-points (22-20) once again, the margin on aggregate stretching once more to 9-points (72-63).

However, Eastbourne responded in magnificent style collecting consecutive 5-1’s in heats eight, nine and ten to open up an imposing 14-point (37-23) margin on the night and the lead overall for the first time in this absorbing tie.

Kennett then reigned supreme in the eleventh, heading home Doolan while Gustafsson performed heroics by fighting his way past Kling for third place and the 4-2 that stretched the scoreline to a comfortable looking 41-25 but that allowed team manager Jon Cook to introduce the tactical ride regulation.

Schlein, took the winning ride for double points and with Kling leaving Richardson and Gustafsson in his wake, the Hammers were two points ahead on aggregate although trailing 42-33 on the night.

Kennett and Bridger then mastered a 5-1 over Leigh Lanham whilst machine problems forced Janniro out of the race as the Eagles enjoyed 47-34 lead on the night and 2-points advantage overall at 88-86 with two races remaining.

Hammers hopes were raised when Doolan popped out of the start in heat 14 with Kling also moving clear of Gustafsson and Woodward for what seemed a likely 5-1 but the Eagles duo pursued Kling at close quarters before Gustafsson found a way past his fellow Swede restricting the visitors to a 4-2.

Now leading 49-38, the hosts had already won the contest on the night but the attention was focussed on the overall score of 90-points apiece with the final race to come. Richardson trapped and soon went clear whilst Bridger, following a brief tussle with Schlein, soon moved alongside his colleague and the pair raced over the finish line to take the chequered flag and end Hammers hopes of reaching the final and being denied what would have been a famous victory given all their horrific injury problems.

Scorers: Eagles: Rider Replacement for Scott Nicholls, Lewis Bridger 13+3(6 rides), Lee Richardson 14+1(6), Cameron Woodward 7+2(5), Edward Kennett 10(5), Simon Gustafsson 8+1(5), James Brundle 2(3).

Hammers: Rory Schlein (Guest for Andreas Jonsson) 16(6), Leigh Lanham 2(4), Rider Replacement for Adam Shields, Kevin Doolan (Guest for Jonas Davidsson) 7+1(6), Billy Janniro (Guest for Joonas Kylmakorpi) 6(5), Ricky Kling 7+2(6), Lubos Tomicek 3(3),