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A look back at 25 years of the Hammers
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After the success of establishing the new Arena-Essex track in 1984, the Hammers promotional team of Wally Mawdsley and Chick Woodroffe concentrated their efforts on building a more successful team to move away from the lower reaches of the National League table.
Only two of the team that finished 1984 were non-starters in 1985 - popular Aussie Bill Barrett moved on to Canterbury and Peter Johns was recalled to his parent club Wimbledon as they dropped down from the British League.
However, the Hammers waited until as late as 20th March to complete a shock major signing as they unveiled Neil Middleditch at the annual press and practice day. Neil, who recently resigned as Great Britain team manager, had been picked up in the then turmoil surrounding the Poole Pirates and he immediately slotted into the form expected of a former BL top-liner, recording a 12 point maximum in the opening fixture, a four team encounter at Eastbourne.
He followed it up in the opening home meeting by finishing runner-up in the Essex Radio Championship to Wimbledon's Mike Ferreira after a run-off.
To accommodate Neil, the Hammers were forced to promote junior Ian Humphreys into the reserve slot - but with Bob Humphreys, testimonial man Alan Sage, Martin Goodwin, David Smart and promising Aussie David Cheshire making up the team, the Hammers' hopes were high.
Unfortunately, the Hammers had an up-and-down season. The team started with a setback as they lost their opening home match 38-39 in a controversial meeting with Middlesbrough. Away wins at Canterbury, Mildenhall and Edinburgh followed but a lacklustre mid-season spell, including a shock home defeat by Canterbury, put paid to any hopes of team honours.
The Hammers made only one major team change during the season, replacing the struggling Ian Humphreys with impressive youngster Gary Chessell. Sean Barker, brother of 2004 Hammer Dean, was also blooded.
The rewards for Arena in 1985 were to be on the individual front. In July, Middleditch, Goodwin and Bob Humphreys went to Peterborough to contest the inaugural National League Grand Slam individual event, with Martin producing a fantastic display to win the final and Neil edging out Rye House star Andrew Silver to collect bronze.
On to Coventry for the NL Riders Championship in August, where pre-meeting favourites were Wimbledon's Mike Ferreira, Poole's Stan Bear and Eastbourne's Gordon Kennett in a star-studded field. In an exciting contest, Middleditch went on to beat the field and pick up the championship trophy ahead of Peterborough's former Coventry rider Kevin Hawkins and Trevor Banks of Hackney. The evening was a clean sweep for the Hammers, as Miss Arena Essex, Kate Woods, won the Miss National League beauty contest and the ans' coach was voted the best decorated !
Frustratingly, however, Hammers' stars could not seem to win individual meetings at Purfleet, as Wimbledon's Jamie Luckhurst won the Southern Riders Championship in September and Gordon Kennett picked up the National Super Marathon in October.
The season ended with co-promoter Wally Mawdsley leaving the club in the sole hands of Chick Woodroffe. Although crowd levels had been lower than in the opening season, 1985 was the year in which Arena Essex shook off the tag of struggling new boys and arrived as an established NL club.
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