Lakeside Hammers Boss Jon Cook has heaped praise on his team for a tremendous back to the walls display at Poole last night that saw the team only go down to an eight point defeat despite losing Andreas Jonsson a couple of hours before the meeting and then seeing Joonas Kylmakorpi crash out with another dislocation of his shoulder.?
Cook commented:
"With no suitable guest available we had Andreas on the latest possible flight at 3.20pm but the importance of one Speedway meeting is insignificant in comparison to possibly missing the birth of your first born and we both decided he should stay home. Then to lose Joonas was a huge blow and one I expected to result in us crumbling. However, I cannot praise the team and obviously Adam Shields, Jonas Davidsson and Ricky Kling in particular for a fantastic performance that if it had occurred in a Play-Off match would have given us a great chance of overall victory.”
The Hammers problems are now more acute with just three of the team that took them top of the table live on Sky on Monday definitely available for Friday’s crucial clash with fellow Play-Off rivals Swindon and to make matters even worse for the Club the staging at the same time of the Danish Championship, Polish Final and Coventry v Eastbourne League match means that there are no seven point plus riders available to guest in Jonsson’s absence. Chris Holder, Fredrik Lindgren and Davey Watt are all unable to accept the booking, with Watt also awaiting a another late new arrival. Therefore the Hammers are calling up GB SWC star Tai Woffinden as a straight replacement for GP rider Jonsson.
Cook further states:
"This is going to be a humdinger of a meeting and we look very thin on the ground but it’s a time when the Hammers fans, who have been superb all year, can really make a difference. Defeat would dent our top two chances although it would still mean that Swindon would be two points behind us on count back and our destiny will be still in our own hands, but we are not thinking of anything other than a victory, which if achieved will be amongst the greatest in Hammers proud history. Having Tai in the line-up will be a great pleasure as he has looked superb around the Raceway in practise and at the Under 21's and with the fighting spirit we showed Wednesday we are going to be in for some meeting".
The Hammers on Friday for the Swindon match will be without AJ, Ricky Kling (on Swedish Junior Final duty), Joonas Kylmakorpi (injured) and are stuck in the middle of a dispute with Lubos Tomicek's Czech Republic Club who are attempting to recall him for a re-arranged meeting.
Therefore, the team will be as follows:
1. Tai Woffinden
2. Leigh Lanham
3. Adam Shields
4. Jonas Davidson
5. Rider Replacement
6. Kauko Nieminen
7. Lubos Tomicek or Chris Mills
The Hammers line-up for Saturday's Knockout Cup visit to Eastbourne will now be:
1. Hans Andersen (guest)
2. Leigh Lanham
3. Adam Shields
4. Rider Replacement,
5. Billy Janniro (guest)
6. Ricky Kling
7. Lubos Tomicek
Joonas Kylmakorpi has flown home to Sweden for further tests on his shoulder and the Club have not ruled out bringing in a replacement rider should he be likely to be absent for longer than 28 days.
The action gets underway at the Arena-Essex Raceway on Friday for the visit of Swindon at 8pm, although there will be a series of junior heats commencing at 6.45pm.
