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The Lakeside Hammers (formerly the Arena-Essex Hammers) were a speedway team who raced in the British league system from 1984 to 2018, most recently racing in the SGB Championship in 2018. The team were nicknamed the Hammers after the West Ham Hammers, a speedway team that closed twelve years earlier. The team's home track, the Arena Essex Raceway, closed shortly before the end of the 2018 season.
Speedway returned to Essex in 1983 following the founding of the Arena-Essex Hammers by promoter Wally Mawdsley and stock car promoter Chick Woodroffe. Former West Ham promoter Mawdsley touted the new club as the successors to or the reincarnation of the old West Ham Speedway, which had closed in the early 1970s – the team took the Hammers nickname, the race colours of white crossed hammers on red and blue halves, and the racenight programmes also carried photos of past West Ham riders from the 1930s through to the early 1970s. There was even a direct link to West Ham speedway within the first Arena-Essex team itself – Alan Sage had ridden for West Ham in 1970 and 1971.
The inaugural 1984 season ended with 14th-place finish but the following two seasons saw an improvement to 6th and 4th respectively. the team's leading rider in the 1980s was Martin Goodwin.
1990s
The Hammers in 1997
The speedway track was unusual because it did not have a safety fence as the stock car circuit acted as a run-off area. It was not until 1991 that a safety fence was installed.
It was also in 1991 that major changes were undertaken, Terry Russell and Ivan Henry purchased the club from Chick Woodroffe and they built a new team. Martin Goodwin left the club and six new signings came in. Three Danes (Bo Petersen, Brian Karger and Jan Pedersen) were joined by Alan Mogridge, Andy Galvin and Paul Hurry. The team were dominant, winning 21 of their 22 league matches, winning the Knockout Cup and claiming the fours championship held at the East of England Arena on 21 July.
Following the successful 1991 season the team were promoted to the first division (one of the rare seasons that speedway operated a promotion/relegation system) and remained in the top flight until the end of the 1995 season. The leading rider was Australian Leigh Adams.
A club promotion change resulted in the Hammers dropping to the Conference League for 1996 before moving into the Premier League from 1997.
2000s
Hefenbrock and Kennett race for the Hammers in 2007
Little of note happened during the early part of the 2000s before the team entered the Elite League in 2004 and signed former world champion Mark Loram. The following season in 2005, two more former world champions were signed in Tony Rickardsson and Gary Havelock and Rickardsson went on to win his sixth world title as a Hammer's rider.
In January 2007, the new promoter Stuart Douglas renamed the team the 'Lakeside' Hammers. In 2008, the club had a successful year, finishing joint top of the Elite League table, but due to race points, were in second place. The Hammers lost three of their top four riders with serious injuries towards the end of the season, but still reached the Craven Shield and Elite League play-off finals.
In 2009, the club won their first piece of silverware since 1991 and their most significant because it was the first trophy won in the highest division. They defeated the Coventry Bees 108–77 on aggregate in the KO Cup Final, with Adam Shields scoring 31 points over two legs.
2010s
Lee Richardson led the team into the new decade, with the Hammers making the play-offs on several occasions. The team continued to compete in the top division until they dropped two divisions to race in the National League for 2017.
In 2018, the team opted to move up into the SGB Championship, which would be their last season. In September 2018, speedway racing ceased at the track and the Hammers moved to the Rye HouseHoddesdon raceway to complete their fixtures.
Thurrock Hammers speedway team
Thurrock Hammers Ltd (THL) was incorporated in 2019 with a mission to restore speedway racing to the Thurrock area post sale of The Arena Essex Raceway for housing development. The Thurrock Hammers overall mission is to return speedway to the Thurrock area. Thurrock Hammers started an online petition to support their campaign in order to return speedway racing back the Thurrock area.
