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Friday 18th July 2008 @ 7.30pm
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Despite the early drizzle, the sun soon came out on an entertaining and varied night of racing to honour one of Lakeside/Arena-Essex's great stalwarts - Paul Hurry.
A good crowd saw four types of racing and a parade of legends including Mark Loram, Steve Schofield, Michael Lee, Jeremy Doncaster, Malcolm Simmons, Bo Petersen and Egon Muller plus many ex Hammers and ex riders. Indeed, you turned a corner, there was a speedway great!
The main event, the Battle Of Lakeside, was a keenly contested affair with 16 heats, a semi and final. Peter Karlsson (PK) was the star of the qualifying heats dropping his only point to a determined Lubos Tomicek in heat 4.
Indeed the upcoming Hammers & Eagles encounters will be mouthwatering after Lanham, Tomicek, Bridger and Woodward all rode with great determination to end up on 9 points each all with 2 wins each. Returning from injury, Troy Batchelor also looked fast and joined them on 9 with 2 wins.
Special mention to Ollie Allen who won his first 2 races only to hit the deck in heat 12 and take no further part.
PK was through to the final but with 5 riders on 9 all with similar records it wasn't obvious who'd go straight to the final and who the semi. Unfortunately, Woodward had to withdraw so the decision was made to run the semi with the top 3 going to the final. Lanham, last out of turn 2, was soon into second slipping by Bridger and Tomicek going into lap 2 and was chasing hard after leader Batchelor when the Swindon man lifted and crashed into the fourth bend fence. That gifted Lanham, Tomicek and Bridger a final place.
In the final PK made no mistake from the gate and although Lanham pushed him all the way for second he was not to be denighed. Meanwhile, Tomicek nipped by Bridger on lap 2 to take third.
In the other racing events the legends showed they could still get a slide on. Troy Pratt beat Alan Mogridge with his tried and tested first bend run round the boards so often seen at Arena in the late 90's in a time 61.6 but not to be outdone "Moggo" got revenge in the second race in a faster 61.5. Robert Ledwith showed he still knew the way around Arena when he won the other two races against a plucky Gordon Kennett with Jeremy Doncaster and Paul Woods getting a run out as well though in Paul's case he also got to sample the modern air-fence.
The "6" Men In Black raced hard too with the competitive spirit still much in evidence despite the vintage nature of men and machine - Alex Gooch winning both races.
The Lakeside Grasstrack Challenge saw 10 riders on track for three races. There was a nasty fall for James Peters and Sam Brown in the first race which was awarded to Lee Street who went on to win all three races and the event. Second in the event was Tom Perry who's performances from the back grid to finish second in the last 2 races showed that given time you can race anything on shale.
A great night concluded with 4 laps of the Purfleet Raceway by Mr Hurry himself in a time of 61.0 and no doubt a big smile on his face.
 Related Links: Scorechart and Race Facts, Pre Meeting Details
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