Following the successful staging of the British U-21 Final at their Raceway last Friday the Hammers return to Sky Sports Elite League action this Friday with the visit of their nearest rivals, the Ipswich Witches.

The British U-21 Championship took place in front of a good sized crowd at the Arena Essex Raceway and was eventually won by Tai Woffinden from Adam Roynon and Ben Barker after 22 heats of enthralling racing.
The last time the Ipswich Witches were at the Arena Essex Raceway was on Good Friday in the Craven Shield and despite the Hammers winning in the afternoon at the Witches home circuit at Foxhall Road they went down to the Witches in the home evening return fixture.

The Hammers riders will, therefore, be looking to gain revenge over the Ipswich for that defeat when they meet on Friday in the League.
With the new averages coming in for this fixtures the Hammers ‘Flying Finn’ Joonas Kylmakorpi finds himself down at reserve with Lubos Tomicek from the Czech Republic moving up into the top five.

The Witches captain Chris Louis, an acknowledged track expert around the Arena Essex Raceway, will miss the fixture following a serious shoulder injury sustained at Foxhall Road in a match against Eastbourne. Louis is likely to be sidelined for the majority of this season. The Ipswich promotion are, however, permitted to book in a guest to replace Louis as he is top of their averages and they have chosen Eastbourne’s Edward Kennett.

The Hammers are currently in second place in the Sky Sports Elite League behind early pacesetters, the Swindon Robins, and will be keen to retain that position and close the gap between themselves and the Robins.

I'm really looking forward to this meeting." said Hammers boss Stuart Douglas. "I feel we have progressed to a second stage with our new riding line up, and this is a great opportunity to see how we have improved since Ipswich rode so impressively here in the Craven Shield. We are nicely poised in the League and it is important we stay very close to Swindon at the top of the field ahead of our away fixture against them just two weeks from now."

Friday’s match against the Witches is being sponsored by Brockwell & Sons Ltd from Canvey Island and is scheduled to start at 8pm. Prior to that, at 6.45pm, there will be a six heat, four a side,  junior Hammers challenge match between Lakeside and Arena Essex.