Hammers take breath before final push

Speedway action at the Arena-Essex Raceway this Friday, 8th July, sees the young Hawks take centre stage as the senior team take their final break due to the Speedway World Cup before a season defining last six weeks of action until the end of August by which time the Club hopes to qualify for the end of season Play Offs.

The Hammers currently sit in fifth place in both the League Table and the season’s form guide one place and four points behind Belle Vue but with a home match in hand over them. The Essex based Club share the same form guide record as Coventry but a superior one to all the other teams below them with all clubs now having raced at least seven home meetings. The Club’s position has been boosted by last week’s away win at Swindon and with just four away meetings left the team know at least one more away win will be required on top of steady home form to break through into the final four.

The Hammers Co Promoter Jon Cook explained: “We are in a much better position than we were seven days ago and a Play Off place is now a realistic goal. We won’t get too carried away as we have a lot of improvement yet within us if we are to make an impression in the final phase of the season and it’s now down to our riders to find that consistency for a big push over the last six weeks. The six weeks themselves are a Promoter’s dream as we offer our fans Grand Prix superstars Chris Holder (July 22nd), Nicki Pedersen (August 19th) and, of course, Saturday night racing with Emil Sayfutdinov in town on August 6th as well as exciting extras including a special visit from Ivan Mauger on 19th August as well as the ‘Blast from the Past’ racers on 29th July and the return of the summer holiday long ‘Kid for a Quid’ scheme.”

Meanwhile, Adam Shields will find out in the next ten days whether he will be able to return to the side for the next home meeting after an improvement in his condition has given hope that his season may yet be alive. The Australian will meet with his specialist to decide whether to delay an operation on his injured knee until November.

The Hawks match this Friday is against the Isle of Wight Islanders and gets underway at the Arena-Essex Raceway at the usual first race start time of 8pm. The admission prices are £12 for Adults, £10 for all concessions with Children aged 6 to 16 inclusive just £2. Current Hammers Season Ticket holders will need to pay just half of these prices to watch this National League match.

Photo: Robert Mear (blue) and Ricky Kling (yellow) – Lakeside Hammers vs Belle Vue Aces, Elite League Speedway at the Arena Essex Raceway, Purfleet – (Rob Newell/TGSPHOTO)