The Hammers new signing, Swedish Grand Prix star Andreas Jonsson, was injured on his debut for the Essex Club in their Sky Sports Elite League match at the Arlington Stadium, Eastbourne last night.

Jonsson, who had a short spell with the Hammers in 2006, came out in the opening heat but fell on the third bend of the first lap. He hit the Eastbourne air fence and suffered an injury to the same shoulder he had hurt in a crash during the spectacular British Grand Prix, which took place at the Millennium Stadium Cardiff last Saturday.

This injury meant he had to withdraw from the meeting on medical advice with his remaining rides having to be taken by the Hammers reserves, Ricky Kling and Lubos Tomicek. This was a bitter blow to the Hammers Management and the large number of their fans who had made the journey down to Sussex to support them.

Given these unfortunate circumstances the Hammers remaining six riders did well to claim the additional point for the aggregate win. They went into the meeting 18 points up after the first match against the Eagles, which took place at the Hammers home circuit at the Arena-Essex Raceway. It took a second place from Leigh Lanham in the penultimate heat to secure that bonus point although there were high expectations prior to the start of the match that the Hammers could gain an important away victory.

With the injury to Jonsson that proved to be an impossible task as they eventually went down by 17 points. The meeting also saw a Hammers debut for 20 year old Swede Ricky Kling. He was kept very busy having to take the maximum seven permissible rides. He showed in those rides that he has great potential and that, once he gets used to the rigors of British racing, he will soon become a good asset for the Lakeside Hammers.

Shortly after the completion of the racing the Hammers Co-promoter and Team Manager Jon Cook commented: “We knew that it was going to be an uphill struggle after Andreas fell in the opening heat and had to withdraw from the meeting. I am pleased that we salvaged the point for the aggregate win but with Andreas able to take all his programmed rides I am convinced that we could have got the win.”

He went on to say: “Andreas will now miss our home match against the Belle Vue Aces on Wednesday but he very much hopes to be fit enough to return to the side in time for our away match up in Wolverhampton next Monday. We will have to use the ’Rider Replacement’ facility for Andreas against the Aces. This will allow any of our remaining six riders to take an additional ride. Wednesday will also see young Ricky Kling make his home debut for us. He impressed me tonight here at Eastbourne in what were difficult circumstances for us all once we lost Andreas.”