Chalky back on Friday for Arena Essex.

Current Arena Essex No.3, former skipper Colin White, has declared himself fit to return to the side for this coming Friday's (May 24) home Premier League match against Newport.

He's fully recovered from the effects of injuries he sustained during our home win over Exeter on May 10.

Those injuries forced him to miss three matches for the Kent Sweepers Hammers but now he's fit, raring to go and determined to make up for lost time!

"I'm fine now," he said, "and happy to be back riding once again. It's no good being on the sidelines as, if I don't ride I don't earn - it's as simple as that!"

So, with Chalky returning to the side on Friday, the Kent Sweepers Hammers will be back to full strength as they take on the Welshmen at Purfleet with the first race getting underway at 8pm sharp.

Wasps promoter Tim Stone has put together a really strong looking septet this year and whilst they have yet to win an away league match, they'll be no pushovers for sure.

There have been changes aplenty from last year's squad for out have gone Glenn Cunningham who's now at Somerset; Steve Masters who joined Trelawny; Anders Henriksson is now plying his trade at Reading whilst their skipper from last year, Chris Neath, has joined Swindon as well as 'doubling up' with Wolverhampton in the Sky Sports Elite League.

Retained from last season are two exciting young talents in the form of fiery Aussie Scott Smith and Carl Wilkinson. Ironically those two came into direct conflict during the winter lining up on opposite sides in two matches of the Young Australia versus Young Great Britain test series. Both did extremely well in those matches, Smith helping the Aussies clinch the series 5-4 with a full maximum in the final test at Labrador, Queensland.

Making welcome returns to track action for the Wasps in 2002 are three riders who had previously been huge crowd favourites at their Hayley Stadium. They are Australians Craig Watson and Frank Smart together with Ben Howe who missed all of last season through injury.

"Wato" had high hopes of making an impact on the Elite League last year when he joined Poole but a serious early season elbow injury sustained in a crash at Wimborne Road put him out of action. When he did make his track return, things didn't quite work out for him and so he's returned to South Wales this season and is already proving to be a prolific scorer once again in the Premier League.

So too is Frank Smart who is back riding following his well publicised suspension from the sport. That's all behind him now and he has quickly proved that he has lost none of zest for the sport by romping to double figure scores in just about every match he's ridden in so far this term.

Alas Ben Howe, who as we said earlier, missed the entire 2001 season being sidelined with a very serious arm injury sustained the year before, has not fared quite so well. Once again he's been cursed by injuries and is battling to be fit to ride on Friday. Ironically Ben was only drafted into the Wasps squad by Tim Stone as a last minute replacement this year for winter Australian signing Ashley Jones who himself broke an arm when crashing during the course of the Australian Under 21 Championship Final in February.

The two genuine 'new boys' in Newport's side this season are our two ex-Hammers, former British Under 21 International Lee Dicken and teenager Barrie Evans who began racing at his home town track at King's Lynn before joining ourselves on a full contract.

Unfortunately for him the move didn't really pay off but spells in the Conference League with both Mildenhall and Rye House have enabled him to progress his career and Tim Stone signed him on loan from the Rockets believing him to be the ideal rider to partner Carl Wilkinson at reserve.

So, as we said, tough opposition for the Kent Sweepers Hammers but the lads will be determined to atone for the 36-54 loss we suffered in South Wales last month.

The teams for Friday's match are as follows:

Kent Sweepers Hammers:
1 Kelvin Tatum; 2 Shaun Tacey; 3 Mark Courtney (capt); 4 Andy Galvin; 5 Leigh Lanham; 6 Lee Herne and 7 Scott Courtney. Manager: Ronnie Russell.

Newport:
1 Craig Waton; 2 Lee Dicken; 3 Ben Howe (if fit); 4 Scott Smith; 5 Frank Smart; 6 Barrie Evans and 7 Carl Wilkinson. Manager: Neil Street.

Admission prices:
Adults - ?10 (including match programme)
OAPs - ?5.50 (including match programme)
Children (5-14yrs) - ?2.00 (excluding match programme)
First Race: 8pm

Scott Courtney gets Conference League experience...

Hammers' No.7 Scott Courtney will gain extra experience by combining his commitments with Arena Essex and with riding for the Rye House Raiders in the Conference League. Courtney, in fact, made his debut for the Raiders in their 36-54 defeat at Mildenhall on Sunday and top scored with 10 points.

Ronnie Russell will continue team shuffles...

Having take over the team manager's role on a full time basis in view of Martin Goodwin's increased work commitments, Ronnie Russell's determination to 'actively manage' the team will continue to see him juggle the riding order, particularly for away matches.

Reflecting on the team adjustments Russell said: "I will continue to juggle the team for away matches, to combat the strengths and weaknesses of the home team, as I believe that is what a Team Manager should do!"