The Mildenhall ‘Fen Tigers’ proudly sponsored by Manchetts Rescue and Recovery will race a challenge fixture against the Thurrock Hammers’ on Sunday 30th June (3pm start).

The Mildenhall management consortium are pleased to welcome Russ Keetch and his fellow Co-directors to Mildenhall as they seek to keep speedway alive in Essex whilst searching for a track for the Hammers! They have already ridden a challenge fixture at Kent, where they were leading the 2019 National trophy winners 36-35 when the curfew at Central Park called a halt to proceedings.

Thurrock will provide a stern test to the Fen Tigers if this meeting is anything to go by, and their side already has a real ex-Fen Tigers feel about it with Nathan Stoneman and Danny Halsey the first two riders named in their line-up. As well as a fifteen heat contest for the main event there will be a six heat second half giving supporters twenty one heats of speedway to enjoy.

Thurrock Hammers' Director Mark Sexton explained their current position “As soon as the 2018 season finished the campaign to return speedway to Thurrock began in earnest and the concept of a new club was mooted. During the winter break, the Thurrock Hammers were formed by myself & two other long standing members of the Hammers' back room staff with a simple aim – to return speedway to Thurrock. The task of finding land and investment will, no doubt, be a significant challenge and could take some time - but the idea of establishing a nomadic side to keep the Hammers' name alive in the short term was thought to be something that could be achieved more quickly. The campaign has only just begun but with the support of the Speedway fraternity, from both near and far, it is one that we hope and believe can have a successful outcome. You can follow the campaign, including the petition, on and via Twitter @ThurrockHammers "

Mildenhall General Manager Phil Kirk said “When our interest in the KO Cup ended, we immediately wanted to fill a gap in our fixtures and having spoken to Russ (Keetch) on a few occasions it was clear that he and his fellow co-directors were both passionate and very serious about keeping speedway in Thurrock alive. As a club we are very happy to offer them track time and support their endeavours. We have noticed a number of ‘Lakeside’ supporters at our recent meetings and hope many will make the trip to West Row on the 30th to support the Hammers’. The National League has suffered I feel from the reduction of teams this year and hopefully it will not be too long before Thurrock can be added to the current teams riding in the third tier. I would encourage our supporters to sign their petition if they haven’t already (www.thurrockhammers.com) and hopefully they will have a new track to visit in the not so distant future.

I feel this will be much more than the usual type of challenge match for us, as Thurrock will come with a strong side that will test us fully. This is exactly what our lads need as this will set them up well for an important group of National League fixtures in the coming six weeks after this fixture as we push for a place in the play-offs”