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A look back at 25 years of the Hammers
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As the 1987/88 close season started, Hammers fans accepted the inevitable loss of the National League’s number one rider, Andrew Silver, to the British League.
Most Arena fans felt lucky to have kept him in Hammers colours in 1987 and, as a result, his departure was not so painful. However as the weeks dragged on with no announcement of a replacement, concerns started to mount.
These worries were magnified when popular, up-and-coming second string Gary Chessell agreed to step up to his parent British League club, Swindon, robbing Arena of a possible 1988 heat leader. Steve Bishop, Mark Chessell and juniors Paul Muchene and Russell Paine also moved on.
First to join the Hammers camp was highly-rated Wolverhampton prospect Chris Cobby, who had impressed in a loan spell for Edinburgh in 1987. Silver eventually agreed to join Swindon on loan from the Hammers, with the undisclosed asking price for a full transfer proving too rich for any BL promoter to pay! As part of the deal, David Smart re-joined the Hammers on loan.
The final signing, on the eve of the season, was a shock to Hammers fans as the closure of Canterbury gave Peter Thorogood the chance to sign the “colourful” Rob Tilbury and save Hammers from the ignominy of failing to meet the minimum 38 point limit.
Rob was not at all popular at the Arena Raceway, having ridden the tight Purfleet track aggressively in past visits and, in 1987, getting involved in a post-race dust-up with the Chessell brothers. The resulting Hammers septet did not look like title-challenging material but, with Nigel Leaver expected to show more improvement, and emerging youngsters Ian Humphreys and Simon Wolstenholme getting the reserve slots, the team had more strength in depth than the 1987 squad. However, much pressure would fall on Martin Goodwin as he picked up the no. 1 race jacket for the first time.
1988 was also a season of change in non-team related matters at Purfleet. A new race day – Saturday – made possible by Canterbury’s closure, a new sixteen heat National League race formula and the departure of the Hammers’ famous announcer Dave Lanning. Lanning was replaced by a certain Bob Miller, whose dulcet tones can be still heard this very evening !
The traditional opening meeting, the Essex Radio Championship, was won in impressive style by teenage sensation Mark Loram of Hackney. Few watching on that cold March evening could have foreseen that they were watching a future World Champion ! Loram, who would join the Hammers much later in his career and won the game’s biggest prize in 2000, was to return and win again at Arena in May in the Grand Slam semi-final.
There were four home challenge matches for the team to get their fitness before the NL started and Hammers fans were heartened by impressive displays as Arena won them all, including comfortable wins over the strong Eastbourne and Mildenhall sides. Martin Goodwin was in blistering form and he carried this into the Hammers’ opening home match as he notched a 15 point maximum against Edinburgh.
As the season progressed, a pattern developed, with the Hammers using their home advantage to keep winning at Purfleet but, with no consistent support for Martin Goodwin, the team struggled in away matches. In May Hammers thumped Exeter 73-22, with Goodwin, Cobby, Leaver and Smart all collecting maximums but, a month later, Arena were on the wrong end of two big scores themselves as they lost 33-63 and 36-60 on successive nights at Glasgow and Berwick.
At the beginning of July, Hammers staged a remarkable comeback to collect a six-point away win in a thriller at Milton Keynes, having trailed by 10 points in the early stages of the meeting. Martin Goodwin underlined how far he had come in replacing Andrew Silver as he shattered the Milton Keynes (Groveway) track record by 1.4 seconds and, just four days later, he took away Andrew’s Arena-Essex track record, with a time of 57.2 seconds in the opening heat of Peterborough’s visit.
The Hammers conceded a draw at home to Eastbourne at the end of July and won again on the road at Long Eaton in September, only to lose at home to high flying Hackney 10 days later.
Throughout the year, Hammers had occupied a mid-table position and eventually finished ninth in the sixteen-team league, an improvement over 1987. In fact the contrast with 1987 was massive, as they used the same basic seven riders for all National League meetings. Martin Goodwin missed one match with a hand injury and David Smart missed two meetings with a shoulder strain, but all other five Hammers were ever-present. This contrasted with the succession of injuries, guests and juniors that Hammers fans had endured in 1987.
It was a hugely successful season for skipper Goodwin, who capped his year by winning the final meeting, the Supernational Marathon. David Smart finished second in the averages with a 7.27 return and, although Rob Tilbury’s 6.75 was better than many had predicted, he was inconsistent and still prone to temperamental actions.
Nigel Leaver was a major disappointment as his average went backwards by almost a whole point and, whilst Chris Cobby did well, he had machinery and confidence problems, which seemed to hold him back. Like Leaver, Ian Humphreys failed to make the progress expected of him but Simon Wolstenholme impressed, as did youngster Troy Pratt in the Junior Hammers team.
Overall, crowd levels were slightly up at the Arena and fans had enjoyed a season of entertaining racing despite the team failing to get anywhere near challenging for any honours. The underrated Hammers team managed to hold their own against the visiting powerhouse NL outfits and racing quality improved, with away riders finally getting to grips with the fenceless Arena circuit.
An interesting footnote to the season - in the second half of the “Revenge Challenge” against Eastbourne in October, the Eagles brought their under-14 Schoolboy Speedway riders for demonstration races at Arena. Included in the visitors were Lee Richardson (aged 9!), Ben Howe and David Mason.
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