Racenights at Arena Essex are to switch from Fridays to Wednesdays with an earlier start time.
Hammers promoter Ronnie Russell confirmed the move days after announcing his speedway team were stepping up to the Elite League for the 2004 season.
"It's been done because we need continuity of racing and I also need to try and build on the crowd levels we attract to the club," said Russell.
"Obviously I sincerely hope that all our fans will continue to follow us despite the change of race night, but it's also important that we try to extend and open up our fan base.
"We've tried many initiatives in an attempt to do that when we raced on Fridays, but there appeared to be little significant improvement and certainly not on a long-term basis.
"Hopefully the opportunity to see Arena Essex racing each week in the hardest league in world speedway will be a major incentive in attracting more people."
The start time will be brought forward by 15 minutes to 7.45pm with the aim of finishing meetings by 9.15pm.
Published Tuesday November 25, 2003
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