Arena-Essex were taking on local rivals Rye House in the first leg of their Knockout Cup fixture this afternoon.

The Hammers were missing Joonas Kylmakorpi, who had to ride for his parent club Eastbourne, whilst nominated substitute David Ruud had commitments with Elite League Poole, which precluded him from making his Hammers debut.

Arena therefore resorted to the rider replacement facility and promoter and team manager Ronnie Russell decided to switch the riding order to accommodate the facility.

He said: "Frankly we have a couple of problems. Missing Joonas is a big blow particularly after the way he rode last Friday when he scored a maximum.

"The other concern is the fitness of Kelvin Tatum who is still undergoing intensive physiotherapy on his damaged wrist. We have now learned that he may need an operation to correct the problem and he will have a late fitness test although I am intending to line-up a guest for him if necessary."

"The Rockets look a well-balanced side and we'll have to be at the top of our form to beat them. I've moved Leigh Lanham to number three and we'll be using rider replacement at five and hope that Kelvin's fit. "

Rye House show only one change to the side that represented them in 2002. Brent Werner, Nigel Sadler and Scott Robson are all retained as heat leaders and veteran Mark Courtney is back in a second-string berth.

Skipper and former Hammer David Mason, together with the precocious teenager Edward Kennett, fill the reserve slots.

Published Friday, April 18, 2003

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