The latest from the Lakeside Speedway Press Office…
IT’S another busy weekend for Lakeside who face Peterborough three times in the space of two days.
The Hammers host the Panthers at Rye House’s Hoddesdon Stadium in a double-header on Saturday (7pm) with the first leg of their Championship Shield semi-final followed by the second leg of the Knockout Cup quarter-final.
Lakeside then travel to the East of England Arena on Sunday (5pm) for their Shield decider with a place in the final on the line.
The Hammers have been boosted by the news that Kyle Newman has declared himself fit to ride following a recent wrist injury, but reserve Zach Wajtknecht remains sidelined with a back problem – American talent Broc Nicol steps in.
Team manager Will Pottinger said: “For me, having Kyle back in the team is a really big boost for everyone.
“He’s someone who’s very hard to cover for with rider replacement the only real facility and he’s the key link between our heat-leaders and the reserves.
“It’s going to be another tough night on Saturday, but we have to simply get our heads down and give it our absolute best over 30 heats of speedway.
“There’s very little room for error, it’s a fine line between success and failure, but we’re more than capable of being able to pull off back-to-back wins.
“Our aim is to build-up a good healthy lead in the first meeting to give us the best possible chance of progressing to the Final of the Championship Shield before giving it everything we’ve got to hit Peterborough as early as we can and pull off the difficult task of overturning the 14-point deficit against us in the Knockout Cup.”
Peterborough bring in James Sarjeant at reserve and are without Bradley Wilson-Dean who is undergoing an operation.
The Panthers had booked Redcar’s Ben Barker to guest at No.1 but are now frantically searching for a replacement after he suffered a broken arm and dislocated shoulder on Thursday.
LAKESIDE: Richard Lawson, Ben Morley, Adam Ellis, Kyle Newman, Nick Morris, Broc Nicol, Alfie Bowtell.
PETERBOROUGH: TBC, Bradley Wilson-Dean R/R, Emil Grondal, Ulrich Ostergaard, Michael Palm Toft, James Sarjeant, Simon Lambert.