Lanham testimonial closes Arena season.

Leigh Lanham celebrated ten years in style at the Arena-Essex Raceway on Wednesday evening as the loyal fans turned out to support the man who has given such tremendous service to the Hammers.

Lanham, who first linked up with the Hammers in 1993 and joined them for his first full season back in 1998, was joined by a band of riders determined to put on a show in this the final meeting of the season at Arena-Essex.

It was 2004 World Champion Jason Crump who took the overall meeting honours. Crump, who was unbeaten in his four qualifying heats, claimed victory in the Grand Final ahead of the 2000 World Champion Mark Loram, Pole Adam Skornicki and David Howe of Wolverhampton.

There were some lively races to keep the paying public entertained with Arena-Essex riders Mark Loram and Paul Hurry at the sharp end of the action. Loram featured in a couple of excellent duels with team mate Adam Skornicki, who displayed arguably his best form since joining the Husqvarna Hammers back in August. The Pole just about managed to hold off the attentions of Loram in heat 2, but Arena's top man gained revenge with a from-the-back victory in heat nine.

Hurry was another who excelled when trailing. After a poor first ride he switched bikes and passed both Rye House's American Brent Werner and Daniel King, who combines his racing with Ipswich in the Elite League and Rye House in the Premier League, to gain second behind the Australian Jason Crump in heat four. Another effort to pass Shane Parker in heat eight allowed him to pursue early pacesetter Leigh Lanham - but the testimonial man rode a very determined heat to hold off his Arena colleague.

Crump made certain of his place in the Grand Final with a tape-to-flag victory over Loram in heat ten. He was joined by Skornicki, whose second place behind former Wolves colleague Howe was enough to book him a safe passage through to the finale.

Heat twelve decided who would join Loram, Lanham and Howe in the final and it was Hurry who produced a great ride to overtake Chris Louis and secure his slot. The semi itself brought victory for the impressive Howe over Loram, who overtook Lanham for the final place in the evening's big race.

Crump completed his evening of dominance with a fast start to head home Loram and Skornicki in the Grand Final and take the prize of a brand new engine. But the evening belonged to Lanham - who'd earlier entertained the fans with a series of wheelies and took to the track alongside a somewhat exposed Shane Parker in the interval - to say a few words of thanks to the fans who he himself had entertained greatly over the course of the past eight seasons.

Following the decision of Arena-Essex Promoter Ronnie Russell not to stage a challenge match on 12th October Lanham's Testimonial meeting proved to be the ideal way to bring down the curtain on the season at the Arena-Essex Raceway.

The Arena-Essex Speedway boss, Ronnie Russell, had hoped to officially announce during Leigh Lanham's Testimonial meeting on Wednesday that the club would be competing in the Elite League in 2006. However he explained to the loyal supporters present at the Arena-Essex Raceway that he needed to be satisfied that certain sponsorship deals were fully completed before he was in a position to commit himself to another season.

He explained that once he made an official announcement that there would be no going back on it and he had to be completely satisfied that everything regarding sponsorship and advertising were in place. He hopes to be in a position of making that commitment within the next few weeks and is at present in discussions with several companies who have indicated that they wish to be involved with the Essex based Club.