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LAKESIDE have confirmed they will be in a position to release full details of their 2011 Elite League squad next Wednesday.The Hammers will start their season with home and away challenge matches against Swindon, with the Purfleet opener on Friday March 25 and the return at Blunsdon two days later.Owner Stuart Douglas said: "Jon (Cook) has been hard at work, aided by Club Captain Lee Richardson, and I feel this new line up will have the harder edge to take us onto success in this year's Elite League."I really feel the Hammers supporters will be thrilled that their favourite riders are back, and I am sure they will be equally excited by the new additions to the team who we feel will be both popular and highly competitive. Maybe it's time now to stop talking and start racing."

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SCUNTHORPE promoter Rob Godfrey has explained the reasoning behind the Saturday afternoon staging of the Ben Fund Bonanza.The time and date of 2.30pm on March 12 means a direct clash with football at Scunthorpe United, but Godfrey says there was no real alternative for such a big meeting.He said: "The number one reason for having it on the Saturday is to give us a restaging day on the Sunday in case of a rain-off. Ideally I'd love it to be on the Sunday but if we missed out because of the weather it would be a massive missed opportunity."It's been said we should run in the evening to avoid a clash with football, but the thing to consider there is that if we're starting at half six or seven, it's likely to be pretty cold at that time of night in March. We could end up with 4,000 freezing people."