Play off hopes are high
The Lakeside Hammers Play Off hopes are high after the crushing 40 point defeat of Peterborough on Friday evening at the Arena-Essex Raceway saw the team go up into second place in the Elite league Table. At the same time main Play Off qualification rivals Coventry were losing at home to Belle Vue.
The Hammers now have just one Elite League match left, which is at home to the Birmingham Brummies, and will take place at the Arena-Essex Raceway next Friday, 26th August. With all the other teams in the League having matches in hand it will be a nervy finish to the year for everyone involved with the Essex based Club.
The Hammers Co Promoter Jon Cook commented this morning: “Friday was a very good day for us as results were in our favour and the performance of the team showed how determined we are to end the season with success. We can now reach a total of 46 League points with a win next week against the form side of the Elite League, Birmingham, and that’s our aim.
“We will then have to sit back and see if we can be caught but we did ourselves a huge favour, race points wise, with the win by 40 points over Peterborough on Friday and with our four own riders showing great form we are confident we can hold our own against anyone once we return to full strength in ten days time”.
The Hammers will bring Jonas Davidsson into their team plus an as yet unnamed rider to replace the long term injured riders, Adam Shields and Piotr Swiderski, although Davidsson will not return to the line up in time for next week’s vital match against Birmingham when Poole’s Davey Watt will again deputise for his good friend Adam Shields.
| UP TO AND INCLUDING FRIDAY 19TH AUGUST 2011 | ||||||||||||||
| M | 3HW | 2HW | 1HD | HL | 4AW | 3AW | 2HD | 1AL | AL | F | A | Pts | ||
| 1 | Poole | 25 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1197 | 1085 | 52 |
| 2 | Lakeside | 27 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 1240 | 1213 | 43 |
| 3 | Kings Lynn | 24 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1119 | 1089 | 41 |
| 4 | Eastbourne | 22 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1059 | 959 | 40 |
| 5 | Belle Vue | 25 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 1134 | 1123 | 38 |
| 6 | Birmingham | 25 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 1111 | 1177 | 34 |
| 7 | Coventry | 21 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 950 | 936 | 33 |
| 8 | Peterborough | 19 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 871 | 866 | 29 |
| 9 | Wolverhampton | 22 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 987 | 1039 | 27 |
| 10 | Swindon | 24 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 1010 | 1191 | 20 |
Picture: Heat 13: Lee Richardson (red), Nicolai Klindt (blue) and Richard Lawson (white) – Lakeside Hammers vs Peterborough Panthers – Elite League Speedway at Arena Essex Raceway – 19/08/11 – (Gavin Ellis/TGSPHOTO)