Presenter

The link to the interviews can be found here: Starts at just after 35:40 courtesy of BBC Radio Suffolk http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02swrqt#auto

10.00am - I'm at the stadium now. Just walked the track and conditions are perfect. Spoken to Bob Ellis who says all the track preparation was done yesterday with today's forecast in mind. It's grey clouds and appears to be getting brighter all the time. There was rain first thing but none now. It is very cold here however, so wrap up warm! Gates open at 12.30pm - parade 1.45pm - first race 2.00pm

2:10 Just heard from Foxhall and tonight's meeting is OFF - waterlogged track

I also put them up and take them down for every meeting! When you look at all the teams together, and consider that Ipswich has been put together within 0.10 of the 42.50 limit, it's points well spent for me. Each year in the Premier League, Chris has tried a different approach to how the team has been built. It is an age old argument about whether top end strength vs strength in depth is the way to go. For me, having a King / Tungate spearhead should prove a productive one. I think the reserves are more than capable of scoring consistently good points. I'm a little frustrated by all the "why was Ellis not re-signed" brigade. When you speak with Chris Louis, as I did on Monday, it's clear that there are many factors that influence the signing, or not, of certain riders. And some are all to easy to point fingers at the promotion, which are sometimes not justified. *jumps off soap box to complete reply to question* That leaves the middle order; and in particular Heeps and Manzares. These two are no doubt the future of the Witches and as Chris had said he has unfinished business with both of them. Certainly Gino would have gained an awful lot if knowledge and experience from his first UK season. Likewise Cameron needs to truly believe in his abilities and we saw from the end of last season, that when fully confident and on reliable machinery he really is a talent. A major part of Chris relinquishing the team managers role was to enable him to be on hand and ready to assist any of the team throughout a meeting when needed. Whether that be mechanic or psychological support, as a former rider there is no one better placed at the Club to do this; and another reason why Ipswich Speedway is in such good hands. Also the contribution of John Louis on race nights should not be overlooked or underestimated. Most meetings last year he worked very closely with Ritchie Worrall and you could see the lad improving as a result of listening and learning from such a legend. In conclusion, I'm excited for the new season. Not just for Ipswich, but for the League itself as there are some very attractive sides being assembled and once again I see the Premier League providing the best speedway in the UK!

A little trivia for you. That is that I personally order and pay for the flags every year. I get a brand new set at the start of the new season. In fact, when Chris Louis asks me about team building I try to get him to sign someone from Sweden, Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic as I have these flags at Foxhall collecting dust! Peeks at Bournmouth, are the flag supplier if you need to get any of the Nationalities to adorn the terraces at Ipswich Regards

Malcolm Simmons - May you Rest in Peace!

Fist pumps eh? Not sure I'm too keen on that idea

It is indeed reassuring to hear from Chris Louis regarding the Australian Witches riders in 2014. There has been a lot of comment on various clubs threads and indeed a dedicated discussion on this forum regarding this seemingly ongoing issue, which does lead you to wonder who is responsible for the errors which have lead to potentially some riders missing out on the forthcoming season. Whilst it seems some riders are able to sort out their official affairs, some have once again fallen foul of this red-tape. Which would lead the question to be asked that should the sports governing body take more of a lead to ensure that the riders affected do not miss out. Or, should that resposibility remain that of the riders themselves. . .

Are you the same Colin Mills that works/worked at Ipswich Hospital and used to write regularily to the Evening Star (as it was then) with some very good, articulate letters about speedway. If so, and judging by your posts on here so far, then that skill has sadly left you. . .

Mildenhall 48 – 1. Stefan Nielsen 11 (5) 2. R/R 3. Aaron Baseby 3+2 (5) 4. Jon Armstrong 10+1 (5) 5. Danny Halsey 14+1 (6) 6. Connor Mountain 2+1 (3) and 7. Liam Rumsey 8+3 (6). Dudley 42 – 1. Paul Starke 6 (4) 2. Gareth Isherwood 0 (4) 3. Ashley Morris 11 (5) 4. Max Clegg 1 (4) 5. Lewis Blackbird 13+1 (5) 6. Dan Greenwood 9+1 (4 ) and 7. Nathan Greaves 2 (4)

I bet the publishers of the speedway calendar will breath easy tonight, knowing that Tony wont be in contact complaining that his calendar only had 11 months on it, as someone had stolen a March! We played Millard bingo many times when he was the much missed regular Grand Prix commentator, and there were prizes for those that got a full house of his cliches. It brightened many a dull meeting. Having done race commentaries for re-run productions myself, it is not as easy as many think and it's testament to Tony that he was always able to make his commentaries memorable (even perhaps for all the wrong reasos sometimes;) ) So another speedway personality passses to the great race track in the sky and that'll be one helluva meeting to be at, whether riding, officiating, commentating or spectating! May you rest in peace, Mr Millard sir!

I'm not interested in what you have to say Ray, suffice that you'll be the first on here bleating. Realist, more like Rayalist !

The unpredictability of the weather today simply gives some on here another chance to take a swipe at the promotion. But on a day like today, who would be a promoter? So here is your chance. As its nearing 11am, you've studied the forecasts, whilst it's fair at the moment things could change this afternoon. One way or another. What are you going to do? Bear in mind, however, that what ever you decide there will be a host of people on here, queuing up to tell you that the wrong decision was made (and that it never happened in the 70's and 80's) Cue: " it's not my job to make that decision"

"Easy win for Berwick here for me by 12 - 20 points." - shame on you Ray, just goes to show exactly how much you know about speedway! Do us all a favour, and crawl off back under to whichever stone you came out from as I believe, that every person on this forum is sick to the back teeth of reading your monotonous posts. And, by the way, Chris agrees with me

Aljerk (Ray), please show me where I have referred to the signing of Hawkins as "exciting". For someone who seems not to care about what anybody says, you suddenly seem fixated by my postings. Anyways, and as always with you, I wait more through a sense of hope than expectation that you can provide the requested link.

Oh do shut up!

There was significant rain at the stadium this afternoon, around 3pm. It then took until 6pm to correct the track after that. With heavy black clouds surrounding the stadium from 6pm, it was always gong to spell trouble if there was any more rain. And the rain at 6.45 was the straw that ... Sod's law, that we then had sunshine and a clear evening. One problem being that the track was open after the earlier remedial work, whereas if rain is forecast or expected then it is packed in preparation; which was not possible as the track was being worked on after the afternoon deluge. Vicious circle of weather and circumstances it seems. Real disappointment all round!

Indeed. The meeting met all the criteria that we set when planning a speedway meeting at Mildenhall go as far to say, more meetings should be run this way!

I'll take a chance and try to give an explanation of events which lead to the very unfortunate delay at the start of the meeting. It was quite a chain of events which, when combined, contributed to us not starting on time (something I hasten to add, we are very keen to do each and every week! and do for the most part). I should also like to state that the starting tapes, given that they had new component parts, had been thoroughly tested during the morning, and worked perfectly at this time. 1st problem: was that the electrician who has rewired the starting tapes following the installation of the brand new, very expensive magnets (the cause of last years problems) had wired the green light to the start tapes. So as the green light was put on, the starting tapes went up! Once this was established as a problem (and the earlier testing had not detected this, as the pure functionality of the tapes going up was what was being tested then) the electrician was called to fix the problem. At this point I was told that it would be a very quick job and that we would be underway in a matter of moments, hence my "filling for time" with interviews with Michael Lee and Chris Louis. Also at this point I decided not to announce a problem with the starting gate, more through the fact that the promotion had gone quite public by stating that new equipment had been purchased to erradicate the problems of last season (I guess, if you like, I was embarrased for the Club at this point!) So the electrician has fixed the green light/tapes issue and the tapes are then tested, onto problem number two! During this test, the elastic which runs round the starting gate poles, on the outside came off the pulley at the top. So the elastic needed to be replaced. In doing this, the starting gate pole on the outside suffered very slight damage, in as much as it got the tiniest of kinks in it, as one of the track staff was carrying out the repair. So as the carriage which takes up the tapes was sticking as it left the magnet (getting hung up on this kink) and also pulling it back down again it was meeting resistance on the way down. To get round the problem, the magnet was quick relocated further up the pole and by-passing the kink. After this, the starting tapes did not present any more problems. Granted, also what did not help, was new starting gate personnel who were all doing the job for the first were getting to grips with their new roles (a daunting enough task for anyone, and especially when the entire focus is on the start line). I hope that goes someway to explaining the delay and I know that everyone at the Club, was motified that we appeared not to have solved the issues of last year. But given that they were "new" problems, I think everyone was confident that we would start on time with no hassle. I'm also lead to believe that some supporters were finding it difficult to hear the PA system in parts of the stadium. Usually we play the music from the time the turnstiles open. This week, however, because there was a live band playing in the bar we decided to wait until they had finished before starting the pre-meeting music. It is usually at this time (between 3.00pm and 4.00pm) that I walk the entire terraces to check the sound levels and whether all the speakers are working. This check was not undertaken by me, given that by the time we started playing the music was near to start time and therefore my responsibilites have changed to organising the riders/parade etc. This week I will be carrying out those checks and reporting on any issues found, in terms of speakers not working etc. Ever since I have worked at Mildenhall, I have never attempted to make announcements as the bikes are warming up, as given the close proximity of the pits to the terraces, this is a complete waste of time as any announcements get drowned out by the noise of the bikes. The only time this is unavoidable, is when a senior rider participating in the meeting wishes to warm up a second bike during the meeting. We make every effort to prevent undue engine noise from the pits during the meeting, by ensuring that junior riders wait until after the conclusion of heat 15 before warming up their bikes. Just like the riders, for us officials it is still early season, and given that we have not performed our duties since last October, it takes us a week or two to get fully back into the swing of things. So please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused by these delays and/or sound equipment and trust that we will be working tirelessly to ensure that there is no repeat of them this week. Kind regards

The meeting preview and team line-ups courtesy of the Ipswich website http://www.ipswichwitches.co/index.php/news-centre/611-devils-are-next-targets-for-witches

Foxhall Heath Raceway in Ipswich now boasts a new grandstand on the back straight which houses over 1,500 people. This stand is temporary but shows the clear direction Spedeworth is heading in terms of improvements being made at the stadium. Talks will be held with the local authority about this stand and other projects planned at the venue in the future. We can also confirm that new toilets are being built which will significantly improve the facilities at the stadium, to include baby changing facilities. We are also delighted to announce that three more hospitality boxes are to be added to the existing ones, which have proved very popular. Spedeworth hope that these steps to improve the spectator experience are the first of many that will take the stadium to the next level and ensure that it remains the UK's premium short oval raceway. Taken from http://www.spedewort...ews2.php?id=957

And there in lies a problem as you had the same meeting presenter at both events. As that person, I can only do as much with a crowd as they are willing to give. I have never been a fan of "war-cries", as I believe they have very little effect unless the majority of the supporters participate in them. Tonight we had three, at the start mid meeting and again towards the end. If fans do not want to participate then I can't do a lot about that. Another age-old gripe is that we dont bring you enough interviews from the riders, and tonight we had reaction from riders (from both teams) along with the Witches management. The design of Foxhall Stadium does not help, as any atmosphere that you try to create quickly disappears over the fence and off over the heath. The contrast with the Mildenhall meeting at King's Lynn was noticable from my perspective. A stadium with no near-by residents to worry about, therefore allowing the use of airhorns, a state-of-the-art PA system and back-of-house equipement rather than the aged old stuff that is at Foxhall. Plus a band of die-hard supporters who truely get behind their team whether they are winning or losing. So rather than pointing the finger in my direction, perhaps you should point it in the direction of the very people who should be creating this mystical "atmosphere" that we hear so much about. Regards

Who Ray? Indeed!

I seem to recall at the Supporters Club AGM, there was a man named Ray Slegg asking a lot of questions . . . https://fbcdn-sphoto...9618_4179_n.jpg