LAKESIDE Hammers boss Jon Cook declared that there is still all to race for in the Elite League Knockout Cup tie against the Eastbourne Eagles after his team dug in to stop an Eastbourne rout in Sussex following the loss of Adam Shields, who is second in the Hammers averages, in the second of his potential six rides following a horrendous crash.

LAKESIDE Hammers boss Jon Cook declared that there is still all to race for in the Elite League Knockout Cup tie against the Eastbourne Eagles after his team dug in to stop an Eastbourne rout in Sussex following the loss of Adam Shields, who is second in the Hammers averages, in the second of his potential six rides following a horrendous crash.

Left with just five riders and having to send their reserve pairing of Chris Neath and Stuart Robson out for three of the last six races the Hammers dug deep to give themselves a great chance of taking their defence of the Knockout Cup into the semi final stages of the competition.

Cook commented at the end of the meeting at Eastbourne’s Arlington Stadium: “When we lost Adam the writing appeared to be on the wall for our season but the boys fought for every point led by Lee (Richardson) and with Peter (Ljung) again filling a heat leader role we managed to drive away from the Sussex coast with a foot still in the competition. The spirit from our remaining five riders was superb. We have a real chance to go through and with the addition of guest Edward Kennett, who comes in for the injured Jonas (Davidsson), plus an extra ride available for Lee through the ‘Rider Replacement’ facility for Adam, we can really aim to get stuck into the Eagles at our Raceway on Friday.”

The 2nd leg against Eastbourne starts at 8pm at the Hammers Arena-Essex Raceway tonight (Friday 24th September) but before the action gets underway the Hammers will honour their asset Joonas Kylmakorpi with a lap of the track to celebrate his newly acquired status as the 2010 World Longtrack Champion.