Top of the table Pirates in town

There is Elite League Speedway of the highest order this Friday at the Arena-Essex Raceway as League leaders, the Poole Pirates, take on the Lakeside Hammers in a meeting that sees the debut of new Hammers Swedish rider, Kim Nilsson.

It’s a must win match for the home side if they are to maintain Play Off ambitions and the second League meeting in an important 24 hours as the Hammers visit Birmingham on the Thursday evening.

The Essex based side expect to have their captain Lee Richardson back in their team and will change their rider order in an attempt to counter the Aussie trio of Chris Holder, Darcy Ward and Davey Watt from the high flying Pirates.

Friday’s expected line ups are:

Lakeside Hammers: 1. Lee Richardson (Great Britain ), 2. Kauko Nieminen (Finland), 3. Peter Ljung (Sweden ), 4. Rider Replacement for Adam Shields (Australia), 5. Piotr Swiderski ( Poland), 6. Robert Mear (Great Britain), 7. Kim Nilsson ( Sweden).

Poole Pirates: 1. Chris Holder (Australia ), 2. Dennis Andersson (Sweden), 3. Davey Watt (Australia ), 4. Jason Doyle (Australia), 5. Darcy Ward ( Australia), 6. Renat Gafurov (Russia), 7. Jerran Hart ( Great Britain).

The Hammers Co Promoter, Jon Cook, commented: “This is one of the meetings of the season and it’s a must win for us. We have moved ‘Rider Replacement’ away from No.2 as it’s a waste of Lee’s (Richardson) talent to have him come out in the easier heat eight against a team of this top end strength.  We can also then pick our riders for the ‘Rider Replacement’ rides as the heats and scores dictate. It’s a real tough meeting for Kim (Nilsson) to make his debut for the Club but we have a lot of faith in him and his practice at our Raceway last Friday and his level of professional set up gives us great confidence.”

The Hammers make one rider change to their line up for Thursday’s visit to Birmingham with Stuart Robson coming in at No.7 as he is unavailable for Friday due to his Premier League commitments for Newcastle. ‘Rider Replacement’ will switch to No.3 allowing Birmingham track specialist Peter Ljung to take rides in both heats 12 and 14.

The Hammers team at Birmingham on Thursday is, therefore, expected to be: 1. Lee Richardson, 2. Kauko Nieminen, 3. Rider replacement for Adam Shields, 4. Peter Ljung, 5. Piotr Swiderski, 6. Robert Mear, 7. Stuart Robson.

A free to use e-flyer advertising the Hammers  match on Friday at the Arena-Essex Raceway against the Poole Pirates can be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/3p26uh6   

Image:  Lee Richardson (red) and Davey Watt (white) – Lakeside Hammers vs Poole Pirates, Elite League Speedway at the Arena Essex Raceway, Purfleet – 06/05/11 – MANDATORY CREDIT: Rob Newell/TGSPHOTO