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A look back at 25 years of the Hammers
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The Hammers’ third season in the Elite League saw Promoter Ronnie Russell take a side to the tapes with renewed optimism.
During the winter, Russell had unveiled a new team sponsor in Stuart Douglas, who called Russell in the close season to express an interest in getting involved with the Club. Douglas was a hugely successful director/photographer and brought plenty of good ideas to the Hammers’ table. Russell himself admitted that Douglas was a breath of fresh air and that he himself had been buoyed by the wave of enthusiasm at the Club. Douglas would sponsor the Hammers through his promoting company Duggo7 .
The Hammers certainly needed a fresh injection of life following 2005’s wooden spoon. The duo worked hard to make sweeping changes to the side, partly enforced when Mark Loram announced he wished to ride for another team. Loram had endured an injury ravaged 2005 and eventually moved on to Ipswich. Gary Havelock returned “home” to Premier League newcomers Redcar, while Josh Larsen and Sergei Darkin remained at home.
Russell quickly announced the signings of Joonas Kylmakorpi and Henning Bager, two solid performers who were hugely popular during their last appearance in Hammers colours in 2003 and exciting to boot around the Arena Raceway.
Long serving Leigh Lanham was quick to join the duo on the team sheet and Paul Hurry quickly followed, eager to put together an injury-free campaign.
With four places filled, Russell’s attentions turned towards securing a replacement number one. The strict points limit enforced in the winter – with Russell one of the main protagonists – was not generating the expected rider movement and the Hammers boss’ search was looking fruitless.
Come early January and there was good news for Hammers fans when Russell unveiled Andreas Jonsson and Mikael Max. Jonsson would start the season in the number one position until Wolves asset Max had recovered from a broken leg suffered the previous season.
With two places left to fill, Russell turned to journeyman Steve Johnston, eventually naming the popular Aussie as team skipper. The reserve spot was eagerly contested with Russell naming Piotr Swiderski until Peterborough beat him to the chase after Russell had switched attentions to Stanislaw Burza. Russell eventually settled on Lukasz Romanek from Rybnik following a good reference from Kylmakorpi.
The Hammers went into action with a side that relied on strength in depth and started in promising fashion, trading home and away victories with Eastbourne. They suffered a heavy defeat at Poole but followed that up with a 15 point home win over the championship favourites, leaving Russell with plenty to be cheered about and fans with high expectations for the remainder of the season.
Jonsson wasn’t always able to ride because of a virus that affected him the previous year, but the Hammers nevertheless continued their bright start. They saw off Peterborough and Swindon in consecutive weeks – with Kylmakorpi in spectacular form – before a heavy defeat at Peterborough where Hurry suffered the first of a series in injuries after being collected by new team mate Romanek.
The young Polish rider was clearly struggling to adapt to British speedway and missed both matches of a Good Friday double header against Ipswich before Russell confirmed his departure from the side, announcing fellow countryman Mariusz Puszakowski as a replacement. Tragedy befell the speedway world a month later when it was announced that Romanek had taken his own life after his Polish club had relieved him of his team place.
Hurry had returned for the Ipswich clash and the Hammers triumphed at home in front of a bumper crowd, those fans that had deserted the team in 2005 returning to witness the exciting on-track exploits of a team that was beginning to string some impressive results together. The run continued when a Jonsson-less Hammers went within a point of winning at Belle Vue and then walloped Reading at home. Jonsson returned to make his final appearance for the Hammers in the return at Smallmead as the team again impressed away from home and the spirit in the camp was buoyant at this time. But their fortunes were about to change quickly. Very quickly….
Mikael Max made his debut for the Club a few days after Jonsson bowed out and struggled – as expected – on his comeback from a serious leg injury. Russell, though, was not overly worried, particularly given the swashbuckling form of Kylmakorpi, who was effectively riding as a number one. What they hadn’t bargained for was the succession of injuries that would bring the season crashing down around them.
The lively Bager broke his shoulder riding in Germany at the start of June but the Hammers picked themselves up to run Coventry close at home. The return against the Bees was a close affair as the Hammers sneaked a victory in slightly fortuitous circumstances. But that victory was to be the last for 10 weeks as the season rapidly collapsed and the Hammers endured the worst spell in their history, losing a staggering 19 matches in a row as an injury crisis ravaged the team.
Kylmakorpi and Hurry, the two in-form men, were lost in quick succession and Russell could only cover the Finn’s absence with the rider replacement facility. Things got worse when Puszakowski clattered into a fence post at Poole to suffer a season-ending broken leg and Max showed no sign of returning to the form that was expected of him.
The Hammers eventually won again in the middle of August and tried to limit the damage caused by the injuries. Young Swedish prospect Andreas Messing came in towards the end of the campaign and was an exciting addition to the team. As Kylmakorpi and Bager returned and Max found some form, the Hammers strung a series of decent home results together, including a memorable end-of-season victory over Eastbourne in which Kylmakorpi twice took Nicki Pedersen from the back in sensational fashion. A classic case of what might have been…
The season drew to a close with the Hammers officially confirmed as wooden spoonists for the second consecutive season. Surprisingly, Russell announced he was planning on lining up in 2007 with the very same side, eager to see what it was capable of given an injury free run. It was not an announcement that went down well with the home faithful.
The club’s annual Dinner and Dance ended with Russell taking to the floor and thanking everybody for their support during another difficult season. He then surprised everybody by saying farewell, announcing he had sold the Hammers lock, stock and barrel to sponsor Stuart Douglas. Douglas made his first public statement a day or so later, saying he would work hard to avert the tide of basement finishes and give the fans something to reward their ever tested loyalty. Perhaps the good times weren’t that far away after all….
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