CardinalSin

How's the weather first thing up there? Met office has light rain from 8 til 10, heavy rain from 10 til 12 and then light rain again all the way up to 5 o clock..

I also read the article this morning and nearly choked on my cornflakes. Interesting that Mike Bacon tried to spin the article in to a positive one for Witches fans, with Tungate now more motivated after being helped and bigged up by Scott Nicholls' mechanic this week! I don't travel to away meetings, and the article certainly annoyed me, so god knows how the likes of Baldyman must feel, travelling from one end of the country to the other, spending god knows how much money to support his team, only to read that basically one of the riders he's going to support couldn't really be bothered!! I think Tungate has been incredibly naïve here. He could have made plenty of excuses to the poor start of the season from lacking confidence, to struggling with machinery and set ups. But by saying what he has, he's now left himself open to criticism in his future performances. If he has an absolute stinker tomorrow or in the future, the first thing people will question now is could he be bothered today. Very naïve.

Great result well done Berwick!

Now that's what I call support. I'll hold my hands up, even if I had the time and money to make the trip, I still wouldn't. Fair play to you Baldy and anyone else who makes such a long trip to support their team

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/ipswich-suffolk#?tab=fiveDay&fcTime=1400626800 You'd be a brave man or woman to pay your entrance fee if it isn't already off by the time the gates open at 7..

Can't they switch these two fixtures around!? Weather in Ipswich looks woeful for tonight, but fine all day and evening tomorrow. Redcar looks fine all day and night tonight, but a total write off tomorrow! Both sets of riders are obviously available tonight and tomorrow, so flip the home and away meetings and get two meetings on. Leave them as they are and little chance of either..

Those two have been a massive disappointment so far this season they really have. Expected so much more from the pair of them. Still time to turn their form around but they need to get a move on. Hope the injured lads are ok.

I think he does..

If Louis badly wants Risager to ride, he'll ride. However, if Louis thinks it will be best for Risager to be elsewhere he'll be elsewhere! We'll see...

We started the season very well, but the last few meetings we've looked absolutely woeful. Not just losing, but getting absolutely mauled. Like I say though we started brightly, so it's a bit puzzling why we went from good, to downright dreadful with nothing in between. One thing that has definitely hurt us so far this year though, is Heeps' struggles. This is a kid who jumped from reserve last year, to the difficult number 2 position in the team, and continued scoring brilliantly there putting a couple of points on his average and walking away with the rider of the year awards. We all know about his wrist, it was operated on unsuccessfully last winter, and a second op literally weeks before the season started. Louis has since came out and said the wrist isn't a problem, but I'm not convinced with that at all. The lad himself said it was a problem at Plymouth because of the track conditions, so is he still struggling with it or not? Watching him race, he looks quick enough early doors, but then noticeably slows as the races go on and sometimes drifts wide looking like he's struggling to hang on. We were banking on Heeps being one of the heatleaders this year, and he's riding like an average reserve, that's hurting us. If Louis says the wrist isn't the problem, then we have to take his word for that. If he's right, then it's another baffling one how he can look so good last year, to so poor this year. That is some turnaround in form.

Ipswich star main story on the back page this morning "No changes" Louis it says seems to have been "irked" by suggestions on social media that Ipswich are making changes. We're not. He has faith in the side and has given them a vote of confidence and doesn't want any of the team unsettled. He also says he stands by his decision to sign Ellis, despite him missing meetings already and a further 4 more to be missed, that could be more depending on rain offs and rearranged meetings.

And then Edinburgh away on Friday! Could easily be another painful couple of nights again next week..

Indeed well done Gino! I'll admit I didn't think he'd qualify tonight and would struggle, based on the fact his gating is generally poor and Leicester isn't a track known for many passing opportunities.

Also last year Hawkins came in for Makinen but again nothing earth shattering. Difference last year though was the team was going well up until the play offs and nothing really needed changing. What annoys most is when the team is clearly lacking and not looking good enough, and nothing or very little is done. There are other teams in the same boat just look at the Rye threads. They also don't seem to make season changing changes and persevere with poor displays and performances from individuals for far too long. As I said earlier, some promotions are ambitious and determined to be successful and are quite ruthless in the process, others seem happy to plod along regardless as long as sufficient numbers keep coming through the gate.

I do agree we are, and have always been very slow to make changes in the hope of improving. People will counter with the argument that it's very early to make changes and riders should be given longer to prove themselves. But tell that to the clubs that have already made changes to try and be the best that they can be. Somerset are another who have a reputation for being ruthless, but the fact is they are successful for being that way. Some clubs show ambition and a determination to be successful, others not so much... By the way, very handy that King will get his over inflated converted average down with Newcastle, to fit in nicely as Witches number 1 next season

Linus Sundstrom?

And still crap racing!! On to heat 9 and I seriously give up! I can't recall a single pass

Ahh good old days! Just goes to show how things have nosedived really. Ipswich V Lynn double header and a heat 15 containing Gollob Crump and Leigh Adams!

There was a cracker against Leicester the year before last. Not sure if it was Good Friday or the Bank Holiday Monday meeting but I remember it being very very good.

Nah I fully expect a big performance tomorrow but we'll see. Agree about the spectacle, it HAS to be better than Good Friday and I'm sure Louis knows that. TBF he did acknowledge in the press that the supporters were short changed and they got track prep badly wrong so let's give him the benefit of the doubt and see what's produced tomorrow.

Newcastle will probably be thinking it's the worst possible time to be visiting Suffolk after our humiliation at Somerset. Fully expecting some sort of response from the Ipswich boys on Monday who will have a point to prove, and a reputation repair job to do. Looks like a decent day weather wise, and an unwelcome warm one judging by this mornings forecast... Anyone know if that new shale that was supposed to be delivered has turned up yet?

The "racing" this season at Ipswich has been dross. Since they invested heavily in widening the track a few years ago, the racing in the main has been very good. This year, and only the promotion will know why, the track has been in an awful state. Little material, no grip and blue grooves! Get the preparation right, and you'll get good racing on just about every track in every league. Peterborough is one of the few tracks where you're bound to see good racing no matter how well prepared the track is! Excellent race track and another good meeting tonight. Well done Panthers.

Me too. On the track front, Louis knows that the poor standard of racing so far this season could potentially hurt his business so I'm sure he's on the case to rectify it. I'm even debating myself whether to give it a miss for a while until the track has improved as I can't stomach too many more meetings like the Good Friday one. None of the supporters are getting value for money so far this season so it's an obvious issue. I have no idea how much the amount of shale needed is going to cost? I assume it's not cheap, so maybe the reason it hasn't been done yet is due to a lack of funds at the moment as much as a supply issue? Who knows but fingers crossed it gets sorted ASAP.

Apart from at Plymouth.. Its either a problem or it isn't so not exactly sure what Louis is trying to say here. If there is no problem with the wrist, then this is a major crash in form from the rider we saw last year.

He isn't "awful" at all, he is what he is but there are far more "awful" riders in this league than Risager. Risager has actually been one of our better riders so far this season.