Following the Lakeside Hammers unsuccessful attempt to take the Elite League Play Off title at the first time of asking, the management team of Jon Cook and Stuart Douglas were quick to dust themselves off and look ahead to their second Final in the space of a week when the Hammers contest the Craven Shield Final home leg this coming Thursday against the Coventry Bees.
The Hammers lost in the aggregate, two legged Grand Play Off Final to title favourites Poole Pirates.
"I'm really proud of the achievement to reach the final but a little disappointed that really only JD (Jonas Davidsson) and Tomasz (Jedrzejak) did themselves justice," said team Boss, Cook. "I've experience the thrill of winning the League and the misery of losing it, and can categorically tell you the former is easier to deal with. Nevertheless, we have another final this week and I expect all the riders to rise to the occasion and give the fans a fitting end to what has been a phenomenal season," he added.
Cook's co-promoter and team owner, Stuart Douglas, was equally philosophical. "We have to take this result on the chin. We have dished it out at times this season and we have to be big enough to accept that we were beaten by the best team of the current campaign. My sincere congratulations to Poole, who are worthy Champions, but it has only served to whet my appetite for that kind of success. Our team building plans for 2009 are already well under way and I'm targeting another crack at the title." he said.
"We have had an unfortunate run of very bad injuries at the crucial stage of the season," Cook went on to say, "and that, without doubt, affected our ability in the latter stages. We held it together as best we could but fell short of the final hurdle. It is important that we regroup for Thursday, and, as we have started planning next season, it is vital that each and every rider leaves Stuart and myself with a very positive impression."
The Hammers face the Coventry Bees in the first leg of the Craven Shield this Thursday, 16th October, at their Arena-Essex Raceway and will be looking to build up a good lead to take to Brandon Stadium Coventry for the second leg, which has been re-arranged to take place on Friday 24th October due to the final Grand Prix of the season now being held in Poland on Saturday 25th October following the postponement of last Saturday’s German staging of the event.
The Hammers promotion are monitoring the progress as to how their No.1, Andreas Jonsson, is recovering following his illness last week and hope that a decision will be made shortly as to whether he will be fit to return to the Hammers side for Thursday’s home leg.
The action gets underway at the Arena-Essex Raceway on Thursday at 7.45pm although there will be a junior six heat Academy style match starting at 6.30pm for those supporters who are able to arrive early at the Raceway.
