Hammers at Stoneleigh.

The Arena-Essex A F Stocktaking Hammers speedway season in the Sky Sports Elite League is now less than a month away. The majority of the team will meet up for the first time this Sunday (7th March) at the National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire when the Official Launch of the 2004 Speedway season takes place at the Speedway Great Britain Exhibition.

The UK based Hammers are all expected to be in attendance together with American Josh Larsen, who is due to arrive in this Country later this week. The doors of the Exhibition will be open to the public between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Admission prices are ?6 for adults and ?3 for Senior Citizens. Children will be allowed in free of charge.

Following the Exhibition the Hammers riders will be putting in their final preparations on their equipment in readiness for the Official Press and Practice Day at their Purfleet Raceway, which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 17th March commencing with a photo session at 11 a.m. The riders will then take to the track at midday for three hours of practice.

The opening fixture for the Hammers will be away at Eastbourne on Saturday 20th March in the first leg of the AirTek Air Barrier Meeting. This match will see the two Russell brothers in opposition with Ronnie the Promoter of the Hammers and Terry the Eastbourne Co-Promoter.

In addition the two Pedersen brothers will be racing against each other with Ronni riding for the Hammers and his younger brother Nicki (the 2003 World Champion) due to be in the Eagles side. Furthermore, two of the Hammers new signings for the 2004 season, Mark Loram (the 2000 World Champion) and Dean Barker, both rode for the Eagles last season.

The second leg against Eastbourne will open the home season at Purfleet on Wednesday 24th March. Initially the Hammers Promoter, Ronnie Russell, advised the fans at the recent "Questions and Answers" session that Season Ticket holders would be able to use their tickets for this meeting but the B.S.P.A. have now advised him that this cannot be the case as the Air Fence meetings are actually benefit meetings and that everyone will have to pay on the night to enter the stadium.

Ronnie's intention was always to allow the Season Ticket holders in to this meeting but he reluctantly has to abide by the decision of the B.S.P.A. However, a free programme (worth ?2) will be handed out to the Hammers Season Ticket holders on production of their ticket.

In a busy start to the season the A F Stocktaking Hammers will then be away at Oxford on Friday 26th March in the first leg of their Knockout Cup match against the "Silver Machine". The return leg will be at Purfleet on Wednesday 7th April, but before that second leg the Hammers will be involved in the prestigious opening live Sky Sports match against the 2003 triple Champions, the Poole Pirates.

This match, which will be shown live on one of the Sky Sports channels, will take place on Monday 29th March. The Hammers then visit Poole on Wednesday 31st March, when the bonus point will be up for grabs for the aggregate victory against the Pirates.