West Ham have smashed their club transfer record which had stood for 18 years to bring in Venedict Glinka as their new number one. Newcomers Poole the ones to benefit from the £1.5million outlay, but it was Newcastle where the Russian made is name. Glinka spent the last four seasons in the British League after signing for the now defunct Rebels for a figure less than £2,000. He took the club to back-to-back promotions and spent the last two campaigns in division one, in all four years he averaged consistently over nine and last year made his debut in the GP series, winning the Swedish round on his way to become world number seven. At 28 Glinka should be still in his prime, however the fee does seem high in the current market, no rider in the last four years has commanded a figure higher. One major name in at Custom Court, but two out, with Vayk Kari and Anthony Norwood joining Dover (£200,000) and Poole (part-ex) after long tenures with the Dockers, Kari had been an ever-present for Steven Hebden’s side in eight of the 14 years he spent with them, while Norwood—now 29—joined the club’s excellent Academy programme as a 15 year old. Both have gone on to feature in the Grand Prix series, experience which will be missed by the Londoners. Elsewhere Kent also broke their club transfer record to land world number five, Sladen Bruhn, Mitch Godden fighting off a host of other clubs in gaining the 25 year old Danes signature in a deal worth £951,000. Godden still has plenty of work to do in the transfer market though, several of his riders remain without homes for SL36, with pre-season now well underway.