Wolves beat Lakeside by seven

The Scandinavian double act of Fredrik Lindgren and Peter Karlsson have a diversity of styles, but are equally effective.

So they pulled out all three match points with a final heat 5-1, as a suddenly tense fixture came to the boil.

Wolves made a blitz start, leading by 10 points after just four races.

Five up with four heats left, the Parrys International Wolves still looked comfortably placed to close out the match by the seven points or more they needed to take the full haul.

But they threatened to throw away not only the maximum-point return but even victory itself.

Heat 12 gave Wolves the first chance to put the match away, guest Joe Screen going clear as reserve Ty Proctor rounded Kauko Nieminen to join him.

But Screen took his partner wide and Nieminen nipped inside to beat them both – a potential 5-1 thrown away.

Next up it was Lindgren, who hit the fresh air with the Hammers pairing of Edward Kennett and Adam Shields tucked in behind.

Karlsson, rather than give himself the extra burden of passing his rivals in succession, opted instead to halve his workload by doing the job in one move, bursting between them on the run to the third bend.

It was vintage stuff even by the skipper's standards, but the shine was taken off his heroics when the pack caught up with Lindgren.

He and Karlsson ended up aiming for the same patch of circuit and Shields managed to split the pairing.

So to heat 14, where first Adam Skornicki dropped to fourth and then Proctor, trying to overhaul Jonas Davidsson, overcooked it and fell.

Lakeside gratefully took the awarded 5-1 and suddenly Wolves' lead had been cut to just three points.

A visiting 5-1 would give the Hammers victory; a home success by the same score guaranteed Wolves all three points. Anything else would see Lakeside pinch a point.

But time and again this season the Lindgren and Karlsson combination has delivered at the crunch - this was no exception.

Lindgren flashed from the tapes and Karlsson made his run round the boards. Shields and Davidsson had no answer.

There is a school of thought that the averages enforced switch to the No. 1 race jacket could take the edge off Lindgren's performance.

His five-ride shows he doesn't subscribe to that.

Not only did fast Freddie clean up, he went under Leigh Adams' old track record and to within .22sec of Karlsson's current mark.

Fast times are one thing and racing another. Lindgren excels at both.

Repeatedly this season he has wound it on round the boards to pass the unlucky Shields out of the turn four exit and the Aussie was well aware of the threat after making the start in heat six.

He closed the door only to miss his line into the next corner and Lindgren shot up the inside and was gone.

Finally, a score of two paid three doesn't normally represent a great night for a speedway rider.

But at last there was a breakthrough for determined reserve Hynek Stichauer – his first paid win in the Elite League.

Although it was awarded after Stuart Robson's fall, the Czech was comfortable in second spot behind Proctor at the time.