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A look back at 25 years of the Hammers
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As the 1996 season approached it appeared that speedway would be lost to the county of Essex. Previous promoting duo Terry Russell and Ivan Henry had moved out of Purfleet and were heading for Hackney after a dispute with the stadium landlords. They were to form the London Lions and would race in the Premier League, taking the Hammers side with them.
But stadium owner Chick Woodroffe - who was responsible for bringing Speedway to Purfleet in 1994 along with Wally Mawdsley and Peter Thorogood - had his eyes on Speedway's amateur league as a way of keeping the sport alive in Essex.
He turned to his old friend Thorogood to help him run the venture - who kept in mind all his previous good experiences at Purfleet. It was a gamble to bring amateur league - by this time named Conference League - speedway to fans that had become used to a diet of world class stars.
But Thorogood said "Knowing the Hammers fans as I have for 12 years, I know they won't let me down - and they'll come out and support Conference League racing".
Thorogood had spent the latter years of the Russell / Henry era as track manager - but was very eager to accept the challenges this role would bring.
Before that, though, Thorogood had to assemble a side of six to compete - which was an interesting challenge seeing as though the whole league was an unknown quantity! He scouted training schools at Sittingbourne and held a couple of his own practice days.
The first rider to join was former junior Hammer Russell Etherington, who had not ridden since the 1992 season. He was tempted to return to the shale by Thorogood, who also offered him the role of skipper - he was likely to be one of the more experienced members of the side.
Grasstracker Nathan Morton was the next to sign - his Speedway experience being restricted to Southern Track Riders outings only. Australian Darren Bolger was next, a former Hammers spectator with previous experience of racing in Australia. The side was completed by former Rye House and Hackney junior Phil Ranson, Peterborough junior Gavin Pell and novice Andy Carfield, who would travel to home meetings from Bristol. Other riders who would be part of the set up were ex-Hackney rider Roland Pollard and newcomer Jamie Barton.
Thorogood's faith in Hammers fans was confirmed when a healthy opening night crowd turned out to witness Eastbourne's Paul Lydes-Uings - a winter target of Thorogood's - walk away with the Essex Championship. Despite problems on the night with the absence of an ambulance for three-quarters of an hour, there was enough entertaining racing served up for the Hammers faithful to return.
An early home setback at the hands of Mildenhall was not unexpected as the Fen Tigers were a far more experienced outfit - but Arena's new look side did get better as the weeks went by. Thorogood was able to tie up a deal with Eastbourne for Lydes-Uings to join the Hammers mid-season – the Essex men could offer the youngster far more competitive outings - and he added a more solid look to the side. A mid-summer ruling preventing foreigners from riding in the Conference League was a blow since it ruled out popular Aussie Bolger - but Thorogood wasted no time in bringing former favourite Simon Wolstenholme back for a short spell, which was a popular move.
As the season drew to a close, Thorogood was able to look back with a smile - his had been the only club to fulfil all their fixtures. Since the league was run on a percentage basis, it didn't help the final league position too much - but the Hammers were at least able to offer their loyal fans a full season's racing.
Crowds were consistent - those who had initially deserted the side to follow Russell and Henry at Hackney started to return as the season progressed - and the figures averaged out at around 700 a week. The club also made a profit, a testimony to the manner in which Woodroffe and Thorogood ran their show.
In the programme notes for the final meeting of the season, Woodroffe made the announcement that the Hammers would be looking to move up a tier in 1997. It was just reward for the fans who had stayed loyal to the club in a season in which there did not look as though there would be any speedway at all.
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