Following the successful staging of the British U-21 Final at their Raceway last Friday the Hammers return to Sky Sports Elite League action this Friday with the visit of their nearest rivals, the Ipswich Witches. The British U-21 Championship took place in front of a good sized crowd at the Arena Essex Raceway and was eventually won by Tai Woffinden from Adam Roynon and Ben Barker after 22 heats of enthralling racing. The last time the Ipswich Witches were at the Arena Essex Raceway was on Good Friday in the Craven Shield and despite the Hammers winning in the afternoon at the Witches home circuit at Foxhall Road they went down to the Witches in the home evening return fixture. The Hammers riders will, therefore, be looking to gain revenge over the Ipswich for that defeat when they meet on Friday in the League.
The Lakeside Hammers riders, management and supporters were all delighted with Monday evening’s superb victory in their Sky Sports Elite League match up at Wolverhampton. Despite falling behind in the early stages the whole team raised their games and eventually came out easy winners. The home side led by six points after just four heats and although the Hammers gained 4-2 heat wins in the sixth and seventh races the Hammers did not take the lead until heat 10, when Joonas Kylmakorpi and Adam Shields claimed a maximum 5-1 heat advantage over the Wolves No1 Fredrik Lindgren and Ales Dryml. That put the Hammers two points up but that soon doubled to four points when Andreas Jonsson defeated the in-form David Howe with the young Hammers reserve Ricky Kling picking up the point for third place.
The Lakeside Hammers Speedway team fought a hard two matches on a freezing cold and windy Good Friday against the Ipswich Witches. Hammers boss Stuart Douglas reflected on a disappointing home performance against the Witches in philosophical fashion.