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A look back at 25 years of the Hammers
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In the run-up to the opening of the 1987 season, Hammers fans were to see their successful 1986 team decimated. Neil Middleditch had retired to concentrate on the family business, David Smart had moved on to Exeter and Andrew Silver, after a close season of “will he, won’t he”, finally asked for a move to a British League club.
A reported £28,000 asking price on Silver’s head no doubt discouraged some bidders. Silver’s request, coming one month before Arena’s opening meeting, seemed to spell disaster. Indeed, it was not possible for Peter Thorogood to announce the outcome of the saga until the opening night Essex Radio Championship meeting, telling a delighted crowd that Silver was still to be a Hammer for 1987.
Fans were disappointed that Neil Middleditch had not been replaced with a rider of similar skill. Into his heat leader role came Exeter’s Steve Bishop, a young rider from the same Swindon junior stable as David Smart. His 6.95 average reflected his mastery of Exeter’s tricky County Ground circuit and his form away from Devon had been dismal.
His lack of suitability for the heat leader role was cruelly exposed in the Hammers’ early season matches. Cradley Heath youngster Nigel Leaver came in on loan to replace Smart, Gary Chessell’s brother Mark joined from Swindon to replace the retired Sean Barker at reserve and Ian Humphreys returned to cover for Lawrie Bloomfield. Even before a wheel was turned, some pundits were predicting Hammers would struggle and rely excessively on the contribution of Silver and new skipper Martin Goodwin.
Things started positively, however. The Hammers finally broke their Middlesbrough curse and opened their home season with a win for the first time ever. They followed that with an away win at Long Eaton and experts were left wondering if they had judged the team too harshly. Nigel Leaver and Gary Chessell were giving good support to the top two.
The Hammers injury jinx soon came back to haunt them, though. Martin Goodwin broke a wrist and missed the win at Long Eaton. In that match, Steve Bishop broke a collarbone and niggling injuries hit every rider except Nigel Leaver throughout the year. The injuries to Goodwin and Silver were particularly harmful. The season was also marred by a number of rain-offs, forcing the Hammers into several double-header meetings.
At home, the Hammers lost seven and drew one of their fifteen meetings. The anger of fans was muted by the determined efforts by the popular Chessell and Leaver and the dominance of Silver and Goodwin. Amazingly, the Hammers won five away matches and only once failed to pass the 30-point mark. For most of 1987, however, the season was about keeping away from the wooden spoon.
The major bright point for the Hammers in 1987 was the form of Andrew Silver. He was THE star of the National League and recorded a 10.66 average, including 11 full and 2 paid maximums. He qualified for his second successive British Final but, whereas 1986 had seen him finish in the lower order, in 1987 Andrew scored 9 points, finished sixth and qualified for the Commonwealth Final. This feat was to see him become the first lower division rider to achieve the feat of progressing from that stage of the World Championship. His success on the individual front continued as he travelled to Oxford in late July to win the National League Grand Slam individual event.
In early September, Brandon Stadium Coventry again belonged to Essex as Andrew scorched to a 15 point maximum to bring the National League Riders Championship to Arena. He recorded most of the fastest times in the meeting and had to win some of his races from the back. The Hammers’ coach was again voted the “best decorated” and Hammers almost repeated the treble they achieved in 1985 as Miss Arena Essex, Michelle Hume, was runner-up in the beauty contest.
Andrew just got better and quicker as the season went on - as late as 24th September, he grabbed Hans Nielsen’s two-year old Arena-Essex track record by 0.4 of a second, in a time of 57.6 seconds. He went better one week later, shaving a further 0.2 seconds off his own record.
After the strong side tracked in 1986, the Hammers of 1987 were a disappointment by comparison. Bishop, Humphreys and Mark Chessell were the weak links in the team but Nigel Leaver was a major find, rising to third heat leader status and proving very popular with the fans. The standard of speedway served up at the Arena raceway was entertaining and there’s no doubt Silver and Goodwin were the major contributors. What would 1988 have in store for the Hammers ?
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