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A look back at 25 years of the Hammers
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During the winter of 2001-2002 several changes both on and off the track were made at the home of the Hammers.
Long serving co-promoter and full time trackman Peter Thorogood was replaced by one time Rye House boss Ronnie Russell, who came in to join Colin Brine as co-promoter with former team manager Martin Goodwin returning to his job.
Unfortunately, work commitments were soon to make it difficult for Goodwin to be present at all the Hammers meetings - especially away from home - and he eventually decided to withdraw from the post, leaving Russell to take up the helm.
South African Gerald Richter took over as full time track curator and was soon busy making changes to the track. The bends were reshaped, shortening the track length from 285 metres to 278 metres, and the banking was changed to allow more of the track to be used as racing lines. The biggest change, however, was the introduction of a new revolutionary air fence, which gave the riders more confidence in racing around the circuit.
The track equipment was overhauled and a new tractor introduced together with the "Wonder Wheel", which greatly improved the track surface and resulted in better track preparation.
The riders were all fitted out in identical race suits for the season and this gave the team a far more professional look. On track, Troy Pratt, Barrie Evans, Brent Collyer, Lee Dicken and Luke Clifton were not retained with Clifton and Collyer still suffering from the effects of injuries from the previous year.
Of the 2001 team, Leigh Lanham returned for another season and Shaun Tacey was back again on loan from Coventry together with Colin White and Andy Galvin. Lee Herne jumped at the chance of coming back to Purfleet as a reserve following a successful close season down under.
This still left two riders required to complete the septet and the Hammers came up with probably the major signing of the winter when they persuaded multi World Longtrack Champion Kelvin Tatum to join the club. The experienced Tatum had not ridden speedway for several years and was to combine his racing with regular appearances as a presenter on Sky Sports. Young Scott Courtney was signed on a full transfer from Glasgow to complete the team.
The season started with the home and away Challenge matches against Rye House, who had rejoined the Premier League. It was the chance to renew old rivalries and a large crowd came to witness the opening match as the Hammers took some time to get used to the new track and air fence but came away with a narrow four point victory. Tatum started off in fine style by creating a new track record time of 60.1 in the opening heat although Leigh Lanham finished up as top scorer with 13 points.
The following night at Hoddesdon the Hammers managed a superb 45 all draw, which meant the Easter Cup was secured as the first trophy of what had hoped to have been many in the season.
Premier Trophy matches were to follow and all three home meetings were won against Isle of Wight, Reading and Rye House. The Hammers eventually lost out to Reading as group winners by a single bonus point.
The League campaign started disappointingly with an 18 point defeat at Newport in a fixture the team were hoping to win. That was followed by a draw at home against Swindon as the whole team, apart from Tatum (14pts) and Galvin (9 pts) had a poor night.
The Hammers gained their first League win of the season against the Exeter Falcons in a very close match, winning by the narrowest of margins 46-44. Lanham (13 pts) and Galvin (10+1) led the scores for the home side but they were made to fight all the way when Colin White took a nasty looking fall and an ambulance ride to the local hospital.
White was not fit enough to make the away matches at Workington and Newcastle but the team rode well on the Northern Tour. They gave the Comets side a real fight, storming into a 12 point lead at one stage before the home team fought back to take the match to a last heat decider as the meeting ended in a draw.
The good form continued the following evening at Newcastle when the Hammers narrowly going down by a couple of points Morale was boosted further when home wins against Glasgow and Newport put the Hammers up into fifth place in the League table.
The first round of the Knockout Cup followed and the team were drawn against Reading. The Racers won by four points in Berkshire but it could have been even closer as the Hammers lost the services of Courtney in heat two and Galvin was injured in an incident after the finish of a heat. The Hammers won the second leg by six points to take the aggregate win by just two points and progress into the next round.
The Hammers were back to full strength in June and beat Workington 53-37 at home, taking the bonus point in the process. Lanham top scored, beating Comets’ GP star Carl Stonehewer three times in the process. A trip to Swindon followed in a meeting that was shown live on Sky Sports. It was certainly controversial with Tatum coming to the fore in his confrontations with the Robins’ Oliver Allen. The home side eventually came out as victors by eight points.
A comfortable home win against Berwick was followed by a trip up to Scotland. The tour started with defeat against the Edinburgh Monarchs, but the following evening saw the first away League point of the season when they raced to an exciting 5-1 in the last heat to obtain a draw at title contenders Berwick, Tatum and Lanham scoring a magnificent 30 points between them.
July started with a very disappointing home loss to eventual Premier League champions Sheffield but the Hammers quickly avenged the defeat by travelling down to Cornwall the following evening and collecting a 2 point win over the Trelawny Tigers.
The Hammers lined up at Coventry in the Premier League Four Team Tournament in front of the live Sky Sports Cameras and came from behind in their semi final to gain a place in the grand final against Berwick, Newport and Hull. After three heats it looked likely to be a two horse race between the Hammers and Berwick but in heat four Tacey had bike problems whilst leading but still managed to get a single point.
The next four heats saw the Hammers extend their lead to four but tragedy struck in heat nine when Lanham's bike broke down whilst he led the run in to the line, leaving him inconsolable at the back. Instead of being seven points up the Hammers were now only three and Berwick drew level when Tacey trailed in the next heat. Hopes were still high when White roared to a superb win in the penultimate heat but there was heartbreak for all concerned in the final race when Tatum missed the gate and trailed in last, leaving Berwick's Paul Bentley to take victory and hand Berwick the title. The whole team and the large band of travelling supporters were distraught at finishing second after looking certain victors and the happenings in this meeting seemed to affect the rest of the season as performances began to dip.
Disappointment continued when they dipped out of the second round of the Knockout Cup against the Newport Wasps and changes were quickly made to the team. Injury victim Galvin was replaced by Carl Baldwin at reserve as Herne moved into the top five. Baldwin had been away from the Sport for many years before returning to race in a few Elite League meetings for Ipswich at the start of the season.
The next three meetings were all away from home and all resulted in defeats as the level of performance varied considerably. Scott Courtney asked to be released at this point to enable him to get back his confidence racing in the Conference League and Galvin eventually returned.
The Hammers moved onto Sheffield and pushed the Tigers all the way before ultimately losing by six points. It was the closest meeting seen at Owlerton all season with Lanham using one of Tatum's engines for this meeting as the two clocked up paid 32 points between them.
Lee Herne had found the move up to the top five difficult but was beginning to regain his confidence. Galvin was also still struggling with injury, leaving a weakness at reserve and putting a lot of pressure on the top four as Newcastle were triumphant at Arena. The home side conceded two opening 5-1's and the Hammers were simply not able to get back into the match.
Lanham’s form continued to impress and he top-scored with 15 points up at Stoke – but little support saw the Hammers go down by fourteen points. He then represented the club in the PLRC at Belle Vue but shed a chain when on course to qualify for the final to end his chances of taking the title.
The season began to draw to a close and the Hammers were beaten by 30 points on the Isle of Wight. They then missed out on the bonus point at Rye House as defeat ended any hopes of the Hammers finishing in the top eight in the League and qualifying for the Young Shield play-offs.
Lanham was in red hot form at this point and took to the track at the 2002 British Final at Coventry. The top five in this meeting were to be offered places into the qualification series for the 2004 Grand Prix series and Lanham started off with two superb wins followed by a second place in his third ride, which put him in the lead with Coventry's Grand Prix 2003 star, Lee Richardson.
Lanham entered his final race in the knowledge that a further second place would give him one of the top five places, but he was outgated by his senior opponents as Mark Loram took the final qualifying slot. Nonetheless, Lanham recovered to win the "Ace of Herts" individual championship at Rye House to cap off a superb season.
The Hammers, though, ultimately came up short on all fronts and a number of home defeats were hugely disappointing. The season ended with Ronnie Russell taking sole ownership of the club and announcing that further changes to the track shape were to be made in an effort to introduce more racing lines – and confidence – to the team.
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