me the message must engage with the community and add value.
“I’d love it to be the south’s equivalent of Belle Vue’s National Speedway Stadium, another purpose-built race track where Team GB and the British Youth Academy could come and have training days. No doubt Coventry will have similar thoughts.”
Ambitious? Yes, but why not? No-one can argue that a resumption of speedway in Thurrock wouldn’t go a long way to filling a huge void left in the south-east by the closure of Rye House (in 2018) and Eastbourne (2021), with Mildenhall and Sittingbourne also not expected to run at league level this year. The nearest tracks for Thurrock fans are Ipswich and Oxford, which involve round trips of at least 130 miles and 200 miles respectively.
Mark points out that Thurrock Council set its own precedent, and upheld one of its principal policies, when it came to the aid of non-league Aveley FC. They have flourished after their original Mill Field home ground in Mill Road made way for a property development and the local authority approved the club’s move to a new 3,500capacity stadium at Parkside, Belhus Park.
“In 2015-16, they were in the Isthmian League getting crowds of just over 100 – and now they’re in National League South and, on average, supported by nearly 500 fans per game,” Mark added.
WITHOUT intending to get too far ahead of ourselves, I pressed Mark for more detail around Thurrock Hammers’ ‘vision and plan’.
You will have noted that he has so far made no mention of sharing the proposed new stadium with stock-cars – despite ArenaEssex being, for many years under the Chick Woodroffe family regime, a renowned car racing circuit that regularly attracted large Sunday afternoon crowds well in excess of speedway attendances.
“I’m sure that the stock-car fraternity is as frustrated as we are with no place to race and it’s clear from social media posts that there is a level of expectation that if motorsport returns, then so would the stocks. The cars have an even longer history than the bikes.
“As a dyed in the wool speedway fan, my personal preference is not to include stockcars in the equation but this is not a ‘settled position’.
“I’ve been told that the best time to watch speedway at Arena was during the Terry Russell/Ivan Henry era, with their chain-link safety fence, and I think fans love to be close to the racing; I personally regard Redcar’s South Tees Motorsports Park as an example of an ideal place to watch speedway today.”
What about the team name? Few agreed with the drastic decision, taken by former Hammers promoter Stuart Douglas in 2007, to abandon the name Arena-Essex, by which it was known since speedway arrived there in 1984, and rebrand the club as Lakeside Hammers.
“I was very surprised when Stuart announced it,” Mark admits. “But, then again, I never liked Arena-Essex either. What did the name even mean?
“It was the late and much missed Jon Cook, who promoted on behalf of Stuart right up to the end of our last season in 2018, who suggested we call ourselves Thurrock Hammers. He said, ‘you’ve got to have Thurrock in there because it makes it clear where you’re from’.
Tommy in a motorway service station on the M1. I got his autograph 12 days before he died.”
Father of three grown up sons, Mark made his living working in The City in the foreign exchange markets after moving north of the Thames to Essex in 1980.
He personally sponsored Arena riders Martin Goodwin and Gary Chessell in the mid-80s and in 1987 was treasurer of the supporters’ club.
Work took him to the USA for 11 years between 1991 – “I missed the doublewinning season” – and his return in 2002, after he was made redundant following 9/11 and he immediately resumed his support of the Hammers.
“We’ve also dropped claret and sky blue (the colours of football’s Hammers, West Ham United) and reverted to the traditional red, blue and white.”
Fair enough, a nod to the original team run by Wally Mawdsley and Peter Thorogood from 1984 and, years earlier, the sport’s famous West Ham Hammers at Custom House.
We’re getting way too ahead of ourselves now! But bear with us, let’s keep dreaming of what might be...
In its turbulent 35-year history, Arena-Essex had spells in all three divisions, so in which tier do Thurrock Hammers ideally hope to return?
“If everything falls into place, the Championship would make most sense. The club had its best years in the middle tier,” Mark recalled. “To operate at that level today, I think we’d need around £400,000 of working capital per season to cover track maintenance work, stadium overheads and riders’ wages but we haven’t completed a full financial analysis yet. We need to clear the planning hurdles first!
“Speedway needs real control over the land it races on. This is part of the opportunity we have here.”
• Leading the fight: Thurrock Hammers directors Russell Keetch, Mark Sexton and Ian Smalley. Picture: TIFFANI GRAVELING
“When he took over from Ronnie Russell, Stuart Douglas bravely gave me carte blanche as firstly an education liaison officer and then commercial manager, both voluntary roles, but the financial crash came in 2008 and it wasn’t a good time for gaining sponsorship.”
He then created and managed the hugely successful Community Liaison programme in 2009, which ran until the club’s closure, but his last contribution was to team-manage the side in their final ever fixture at a frozen Derwent Park, Workington on October 31, 2018.
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OU will have gathered that Mark knows his speedway history and has a shrewd handle on the present. Affable and eloquent, he’s a genuine, knowledgeable supporter, not an opportunist vulture hovering with intent.
Born and brought up just outside Leatherhead in Surrey, he first saw speedway at Wimbledon in 1973. The Dons became his team; Tommy Jansson his favourite rider.
“I went to Coventry to watch Wimbledon on May 8, 1976 and on the way home I saw
But Mark – who lives in Braintree and will be 68 in July – is no quitter. With the backing of the speedway family, rest assured that he and his fellow directors will do all they can to convince Thurrock Council that speedway deserves recognition and a future place in the local community.
“A lot of effort has gone into this over the past four-and-a-half years and until such times as someone tells us to ‘go away, your ideas are wrong or won’t work’, then we’ll keep going. It’s become a matter of principle.”
February 10, 2024 speedway star 13
