Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2010 20:31:12 GMT
From the BSPA
THE 2010 Elite League arrives in Essex this week as The Lakeside Hammers campaign starts in earnest with a Good Friday double header against local arch rivals, the Eastbourne Eagles. With three warm up meetings now under their belts, this is where the real action begins.
"Our pre season activity hasn't gone to plan." said Hammers Co-Promoter, Stuart Douglas. "We are way off the standards we set ourselves and we will be working hard this week to address all the issues to ensure we bag the majority of the points available this Friday."
The Hammers came off second best to the current Sky Sports Elite League champions, Wolverhampton, in the traditional Elite Shield season opener between the League winners and the Cup winners. They were also pipped for victory in a Challenge Match at Ipswich last week - a meeting the Hammers looked to have sewn up before two disappointing last heats gifted the result to the Witches.
"We should have won both the meeting at Ipswich and our home meeting against Wolves but inconsistent performances throughout the team saw the results reversed against us." said Douglas. "We must get a much higher level of consistency from the team."
Co-Promoter and Team Manager, Jon Cook, was quick to echo this sentiment. "We are all hugely disappointed with last week’s results. It’s certainly not the start to the season we had anticipated" said Cook. "But it would be foolhardy to start panicking. We worked hard at Ipswich to get into a winning position and after heat 6 at home to Wolves we looked to be cruising, which is both equally encouraging and frustrating, and having been in a positive situation this team has shown it’s capable of much, much more. I will be making sure that the message is heard loud and clear that, come Friday, there is absolutely no room for complacency or lack of commitment. We've had a chance to iron out bike gremlins and sharpen up our race reflexes - the business starts now, and I will be looking at the whole team to pick up the gauntlet and make their mark".
Stuart Douglas also offered an overview. "After the euphoria of our fantastic Knockout Cup victory last season there is, not without justification, an element of expectation from the fans that the good times are ours by default. It took a lot of very hard work to get that first piece of major silverware and we don't want to see that work wasted. The fans have every right to expect bigger performances from us now. Jon and I will ensure that they don't remain disappointed - starting this Friday against Eastbourne.
The busy Good Friday for the Hammers and their supporters gets underway with a 1pm start at their Arena-Essex Raceway against Eastbourne. In addition to the 15 heats of League action there will be additional heats involving quads plus it is also hoped to have some junior racing as well. After the conclusion of racing the action will then move down to the Arlington Stadium, Eastbourne for the second League match of the day. That will start at 7.30pm.
Despite the additional heats of racing at the Arena-Essex Raceway normal admission prices will apply except children aged 6 to 15 will only need to pay £1 instead of the usual price of £3. The other prices are: - Adults £16, Concessions (Senior Citizens, Disabled and Students) £12 and Unemployed £10. Matchday programmes will be available at £2.50.
The two expected line-ups are as follows:-
Lakeside Hammers: Krzysztof Kasprzak (Poland), Stuart Robson (Great Britain), Kauko Nieminen (Finland), Jonas Davidsson (Sweden), Adam Shields (Australia), Paul Hurry (Great Britain), Daniel Davidsson (Sweden).
Eastbourne Eagles: Matej Zagar (Slovenia), Simon Gustafsson (Sweden), Lukas Dryml (Czech Republic), Cameron Woodward (Australia), Joonas Kylmakorpi (Finland), Ricky Kling (Sweden), Dawid Lampart (Poland).
THE 2010 Elite League arrives in Essex this week as The Lakeside Hammers campaign starts in earnest with a Good Friday double header against local arch rivals, the Eastbourne Eagles. With three warm up meetings now under their belts, this is where the real action begins.
"Our pre season activity hasn't gone to plan." said Hammers Co-Promoter, Stuart Douglas. "We are way off the standards we set ourselves and we will be working hard this week to address all the issues to ensure we bag the majority of the points available this Friday."
The Hammers came off second best to the current Sky Sports Elite League champions, Wolverhampton, in the traditional Elite Shield season opener between the League winners and the Cup winners. They were also pipped for victory in a Challenge Match at Ipswich last week - a meeting the Hammers looked to have sewn up before two disappointing last heats gifted the result to the Witches.
"We should have won both the meeting at Ipswich and our home meeting against Wolves but inconsistent performances throughout the team saw the results reversed against us." said Douglas. "We must get a much higher level of consistency from the team."
Co-Promoter and Team Manager, Jon Cook, was quick to echo this sentiment. "We are all hugely disappointed with last week’s results. It’s certainly not the start to the season we had anticipated" said Cook. "But it would be foolhardy to start panicking. We worked hard at Ipswich to get into a winning position and after heat 6 at home to Wolves we looked to be cruising, which is both equally encouraging and frustrating, and having been in a positive situation this team has shown it’s capable of much, much more. I will be making sure that the message is heard loud and clear that, come Friday, there is absolutely no room for complacency or lack of commitment. We've had a chance to iron out bike gremlins and sharpen up our race reflexes - the business starts now, and I will be looking at the whole team to pick up the gauntlet and make their mark".
Stuart Douglas also offered an overview. "After the euphoria of our fantastic Knockout Cup victory last season there is, not without justification, an element of expectation from the fans that the good times are ours by default. It took a lot of very hard work to get that first piece of major silverware and we don't want to see that work wasted. The fans have every right to expect bigger performances from us now. Jon and I will ensure that they don't remain disappointed - starting this Friday against Eastbourne.
The busy Good Friday for the Hammers and their supporters gets underway with a 1pm start at their Arena-Essex Raceway against Eastbourne. In addition to the 15 heats of League action there will be additional heats involving quads plus it is also hoped to have some junior racing as well. After the conclusion of racing the action will then move down to the Arlington Stadium, Eastbourne for the second League match of the day. That will start at 7.30pm.
Despite the additional heats of racing at the Arena-Essex Raceway normal admission prices will apply except children aged 6 to 15 will only need to pay £1 instead of the usual price of £3. The other prices are: - Adults £16, Concessions (Senior Citizens, Disabled and Students) £12 and Unemployed £10. Matchday programmes will be available at £2.50.
The two expected line-ups are as follows:-
Lakeside Hammers: Krzysztof Kasprzak (Poland), Stuart Robson (Great Britain), Kauko Nieminen (Finland), Jonas Davidsson (Sweden), Adam Shields (Australia), Paul Hurry (Great Britain), Daniel Davidsson (Sweden).
Eastbourne Eagles: Matej Zagar (Slovenia), Simon Gustafsson (Sweden), Lukas Dryml (Czech Republic), Cameron Woodward (Australia), Joonas Kylmakorpi (Finland), Ricky Kling (Sweden), Dawid Lampart (Poland).
