The Hammers scorched to their third home win of the season and also gathered their first bonus point as they handed their visitors a drubbing on Friday.

Joonas Kylmakorpi led Arena's victory charge with his first paid maximum for the club and he received typically consistent support from Leigh Lanham who dropped just one point in four rides.

The changes made by promoter Ronnie Russell have thus far proved so fruitful with the new partnership of Kylmakorpi and Henning Bager continuing to catch the eye.

Their three programmed pairings produced three heat advantages, including two maximums.

From the moment Kelvin Tatum and Lee Herne opened proceedings with a 4-2, Hammers dominated. Kylm-akorpi's second win in heat five gave Arena a 10-point lead and with Tatum and Herne adding a maximum the result was never in doubt.

Trailing 14-28, Reading resorted to a double substitution in heat eight. The ploy produced a 5-1 through Phil Morris and Jonas Davidsson but Hammers countered, inevitably through Kylmak-orpi and Bager.

The teams exchanged 4-2s before Kylmakorpi collected his third win of the night as Arena extended their lead to 44-28 and ensured the Premier League win and the bonus when Lanham and Tatum settled on a shared heat 13 after Morris shot clear down the back straight first time around.

Published Monday, April 14, 2003

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