THIS was a night for household cleaners rather than speedway stars.
Whereas 99.9 per-cent of tracks in this country are covered in a generous helping of shale, the Purfleet base of the Hammers provides the other 0.1 per-cent.

Down on the outskirts of capital they don't bother with shale. Instead they have dust – clouds and clouds of the stuff.

Forget about Hans Andersen, Kenneth Bjerre and co. Round here you need Mr Sheen and the rest of his friends from that supermarket shelf to get good results.

Rumour has it the track staff are armed with brushes rather than rakes to make sure the surface is well swept and they certainly do a good job as even Richard Hall – the bravest, widest rider of all – could not find any grip.

"I spent most of the night at the back and my bikes and suit are not even dirty," quipped Hall. "I only had to replace one tear-off on my goggles all meeting and that shows there isn't a lot of dirt at the place."

Those conditions are not ideal for a team whose home track at the Showground is laden with dirt and a racing paradise.

In fact these two venues could not be more different. While Alwalton can be frightfully fast, Purfleet is painfully pedestrian,
That meant the men that provided a club record Elite League success over the same opponents just 24 hours earlier were up against it.

Another triumph was always an ambitious target - even after a 65-25 annihilation on Thursday - but clinching the aggregate point was an absolute must and Panthers had that in the bag by the end of heat 10 when a Niels Kristian Iversen victory secured a 3- 3.

And the city side just about achieved respectability despite being found guilty of dropping several points by team manager Trevor Swales.
Captain Hans Andersen regained centre stage after being pushed out of the limelight by high-scoring team-mates in the past week with a paid 16-point return.

That featured a successful 11th heat tactical ride that made sure the visitors were not totally blown away, and a final race success over Kris Kasprzak that robbed the Lakeside star of a maximum.

But it wasn't enough to satisfy Andersen who again found himself leaving Purfleet dejected rather than delighted.

He said: "I always seem to get a whipping here and this was no different. I have been to this track many times and am getting used to leaving disappointed.

"It is hard to go from Peterborough one day to Purfleet the next and I think the difference in track caught some of the boys out."
The big problem for Panthers came at reserve where the rival duos had vastly different nights.

While the German racer Christian Hefenbrock and Chris Neath piled up paid 20 points for the hosts, Danny King and Hall had an off- night, managing only three between them (and they all arrived from Hall.)
King had a miserable time and quickly petered out after a promising start for all but one corner of the opener.

He lost grip of third place within the shadow of the finishing line in heat one and then took a tumble in his next outing.

Hall, on the other hand, was regularly on the pace during his gruelling seven-ride shift and was the victim of a dubious refereeing call that might have further boosted his tally.

Both rider and watching Panthers officials were adamant he had sneaked ahead of Chris Neath in a dash to the line for second place in the second heat, but referee Dale Entwistle thought otherwise and awarded the Hammers man the two points as he followed home Hefenbrock for a 5- 1.

Another maximum quickly followed in heat three and from then on Panthers were playing catch-up.

It was a game they looked like winning and they sound found their deficit mounting into double figures.

It was a disappointing end to an otherwise fantastic week, but Panthers have to start upping the anteaway from home.
The cannot afford to rely on their home comforts if their title defence is to reach a glorious end.