Richardson back for Lakeside

Published: 4:12 PM August 27, 2009 Updated: 2:33 PM October 11, 2020

LAKESIDE Hammers will welcome back stand in captain Lee Richardson on Friday night as the team battle for three more crucial Sky Sports Elite League points.

Richardson crashed out of last Saturday's meeting with Coventry but has recovered from rib and shoulder injuries in time to return this week. Also back in the line-up is popular reserve Robert Mear after a string of fixture clashes with his parent club Rye House.

The rest of the Hammers top five remains unchanged for the local derby against an Ipswich team led by Scott Nicholls riding in preference to undertaking GP practise.

This is likely to be the last meeting of the current team line up as Captain Adam Shields continues his return to race action on the continent this weekend in Poland and, subject to fitness, will return for next week's clash with his former team, Eastbourne, at which time the Hammers will have to make at least one change to accommodate their popular Aussie.

You may also want to watch:

Joining Nicholls in the Ipswich team on Friday will be Australian Troy Batchelor, who joined the Witches mid season after having been released by Swindon, Poles Robert Miskowiak, who rode for the Witches last year but has only recently rejoined the Suffolk club, and Dawid Stachyra, plus former Hammer and GB rider Daniel King.

With both of their doubling up riders (Kozza Smith and Carl Wilkinson) plus their official No.8 (Hammers asset Jerran Hart) being unavailable due to either injury or other commitments for their Premier League sides the Witches management have booked in Sheffield's Josh Auty as a guest at reserve.

The final member of their squad, German Tobias Kroner, is injured and may not ride again this season. The Witches are looking to bring in a replacement but it looks unlikely that this will happen in time for Friday's match so they are expected to cover the German's rides by utilising the 'Rider Replacement' facility.

This will allow Miskowiak to take an additional ride with the two reserves covering the remaining three rides.

Friday's action gets underway at the Arena-Essex Raceway for this vital League clash against Ipswich at 8pm.

Once again the Club will be running the 'Kids for a Quid' scheme whereby children between the ages of 6 and 16 will gain admission for just �1. Children under 6 will be free if accompanied by a paying adult.