Arena Essex Hammers
| Lakeside Hammers | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Track address |
Arena Essex Raceway A1306 Arterial Road Purfleet |
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| Country | England | ||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1984 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Team manager | Kelvin Tatum | ||||||||||||||||||
| Team captain | Ben Morley | ||||||||||||||||||
| League | National League | ||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www |
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| Colours | Blue red and white | ||||||||||||||||||
| Track size | 252 metres (276 yd) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Track record time | 56.8 seconds | ||||||||||||||||||
| Track record date | 30 May 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Track record holder | Andreas Jonsson | ||||||||||||||||||
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The Lakeside Hammers are a speedway team who race in the British National League. They were founded (as the Arena-Essex Hammers) by promoter Wally Mawdsley and promoter Chick Woodroffe. The team were nicknamed the Hammers after the West Ham Hammers, a speedway team that closed twelve years earlier.
From foundation in 1984 until January 2007, the club was known as the Arena-Essex Hammers but new promotor Stuart Douglas renamed them the 'Lakeside' Hammers at the Arena-Essex Raceway. The Arena Essex Raceway was built in 1978 to stage banger racing.
The speedway track was unusual because it did not have a safety fence as the circuit acted as a run-off area. It was not until 1991 that a safety fence was installed, but the lack of fence encouraged the riders to ride wider lines than they would otherwise have done.
The Hammers competed in the National League (the second league tier) from 1984 until 1990. In 1991 Arena Essex won the British League Division Two Championship and were promoted to the British League. They remained in the top flight until the end of the 1995 season, when a promotion change meant the Hammers had to drop to the Conference League for 1996. From 1997 to 2003, Arena Essex competed in the Premier League, before moving up into the Elite League, the top league of British speedway.
The team manager is Jon Cook (previously of the Eastbourne Eagles). The Promoter Stuart Douglas, known affectionately to Hammers fans as 'Stan', took control of the club in 2006.
In 2008, the club had one of its most successful years to date. The Hammers finished joint top of the Elite League table, but due to race points, were in second place. The Hammers lost three of their top four riders with serious injuries towards the end of the season, but still reached the Craven Shield and Elite League play-off finals.
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