There is a switch of race night for Arena Essex this week who meet Edinburgh tomorrow at the Purfleet raceway commencing at 8.00pm.

The Hammers welcome back Andy Galvin after his knee injury and he forms a "veteran" partnership with Carl Baldwin at reserve.

While 37-year-old Galvin returns the home side have been rocked by the news that 19-year-old Scott Courtney has decided to quit Premier League racing due to a combination of loss of confidence and criticism from a small minority of the home crowd.

"Frankly, I think the reaction of these so-called supporters is scandalous," said co-promoter Ronnie Russell.

"Scott never stops trying but is merely suffering from a lack of confidence. He's decided to concentrate on Conference League racing for the time being where he's being doing himself justice with double-figure scores regularly."

A further change for the Hammers on Saturday sees guest Dave Mullett replacing Kelvin Tatum who has an international long track engagement.

Arena team: D Mullett, S Tacey, C White, L Herne, L Lanham, A Galvin, C Baldwin.

The Hammers have suffered two defeats in two nights losing 47-43 at Hull on Wednesday before going under 48-42 at Sheffield last night.

Published Friday August 16, 2002

Brought to you by the Evening Echo