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yep, agertoft got better every race, and to be fair although didn't look like troubling danny in 3rd in heat 13 he really wasn't that far behind, no more so than a top flight reserve might be expected to be - certainly looks like in a year or two could be good!

i'm not overly excited about the result and appreciate the panthers team was weakened however when you break down how the meeting unfolded i think it still would've been a comfy win for the witches, - ostergaard scored 9 can't see proctor would've scored any more than that - unlikely he'd have won 3 races, credit where credits due to ostergaard last night his three race win times were 56.7,56.9 & 57.2 so he was unexpectedly quick early on in the meeting. - becker scored 8 paid 10 probably a similar score to that expected of wright, becker rides really nicely at foxhall, was very good in most races - r/r provided 6 for hans possibly a little lean - garrity would've scored more than morleys 0, - tungate obviously would've scored 8/9 probably but if there had been a full team scott wouldn't have had 7 rides, becker and summers wouldn't have had 6 each and ostergaard 5, so several of the points scored from their extra rides would've been distributed elsewhere to tungate and garrity - still think with the way the witches rode on a well prepared track last night they'd have scored 50 against a full panthers side. they will have to sharpen up from the gate in the meetings to come, but it was a much improved performance by all last night Heeps really needs to improve on his starting, i think perhaps he's just putting too much pressure on himself at the tapes now he's in the main body of the team, his gating has been the best its been for much of this season, but now up at no.3 he's sitting there feeling like its his job to make the best start rather than it being a bonus if he does as a reserve in the races and he's not as relaxed at the tapes.

Thought the track was superb last night, hopefully moving forward the weather plays ball and they’ll be able to prepare the track exactly how they wish in the upcoming meetings, clearly enjoyed by the whole team last night! There’s been an torrential rain on the day of or day before most home meetings in recent weeks which can’t of helped track preparation - it’s been different every week and often tricky and greasy on top. i thought the lineup was certainly the best lineup for home meetings yesterday and what Hawkins should’ve gone with straight away when KP dropped to reserve, funny how he needed a few more meetings to realise Heeps and Danny would always want the same piece of track and we could do with pairing a better gater like Lawson with bomber in heat 1

I’m only going tonight to see my dad for a couple of hours as we both have season tickets! If we didn’t it’d be the pub! Still contemplating that idea instead anyway! What a farce! feel sorry for pboro and their fans but also feel sorry for ippo promotion - going to have to pay out 60+ points money on a crap gate!

George 30 Rural Suffolk, half hour or so from Foxhall Ipswich Witches Been going all my life with my dad, my grandad took him when he was a boy, and knew john louis well among others 1998 has to be the best memory, the night we clinched the treble the fans mobbed the track, tony rickardsson disappeared in a cloud of smoke doing donuts on the stock car track, i got my team shirt signed by all six riders, i was 9 years old and my dad lifted me up so tony could reach over the fence to sign my shirt! which i still have in a box somewhere! Not sure of a worst speedway moment, seen too many bad crashes and injuries which is never nice, was present on the 2nd bend to witness chris louis career ending injury which was a sad ending to a career of my childhood hero! similarly with Mark loram and his career ending crash. Big fan of woffinden, when he's on form and fit he's the most skilful rider in todays field for me, as a kid i was always a big rickardsson fan as well as louis, loram and later hamper, always liked ryan sullivan and billy hamill as visiting riders back in the day. In more recent years Chris Holder was a big favourite of mine and his championship year 2012 marks in my mind a point in time when the sport changed - he was for me the last world champion who won the title on raw energy and talent, since then the riders have taken the attention to details in bike prep and fitness more importantly to a whole other level - i don't think this is a bad thing, but i do look back fondly on the era of holder and him getting loose and going fast, i guess Darcy Ward fell in this same sort of bracket just a raw natural talent, some of his off track antics let him down however. I don't want to name names in terms least favourite riders i don't think that's necessarily fair, what i'll say is i've got no time for those that ride with a desperation and leave their brains in the toolbox, i want to see hard, close and fair riding, not riders that if they can get close enough won't think twice about riding straight through someone, rather than making tough but fair passes - its dangerous and i just think its unnecessary. Also don't like to see people trying too hard to ride above their ability - too many seemingly down the years watch the grand prix boys throw the bikes at each other and think that's great racing i'll try that but don't have the skillset to pull these manoeuvres and neither do the riders they're throwing the bike at! once again it's dangerous and causes crashes. Other interests, i love the outdoors, walking, mtb, golf is my main hobby and I'm a lifelong Liverpool FC fan, no children currently but a wife, dog, 2 rabbits and 2 chickens!

It’s a 5% added for home guests not away I thought!?

Sort of, the dirt developed over the meeting and the outside was clearly fastest in the second, still probably a bit slicker than our dirt dogs prefer. swindon quite frankly we’re just to a man better than us in every department, making far better starts, and quicker on the track, even when bomber got out in front batch lined him and went past him bend 4 lap 2 like he was standing still

Bomber + KP = 12.17 - 0.63 to get back to the 42.5 limit leaves 11.54 ash Morris at 7 3.32 - rides our track well leaves 8.22 - to go and get a top rider to ride til the end of the season, still unlikely I know but there must be some out there that aren’t going to in polish or Swedish playoffs so a few extra meetings may be more appealing??? Holder, Lindgren, iversen, zagar!? i know realistically it’s a pie in the Sky suggestion but we’ve got ourselves in a good position for the playoffs unexpectedly and would be a shame for the season to now just implode.

Excellent for Nico yes - for ipswich no. knocked KP off virtually when on a 5-1 in ht 2 completely unnecessarily and again fenced Heeps in ht 8 when on a 5-1 on second resulting in a 4-2, Swindon were by far the better team tonight but Nico didn’t look for a teammate once, rode through anyone and everyone he got the chance to. only way I see us reaching the final now is dropping bomber and KP and bringing in a top rider at no.1 to come and be the hero. shame a few weeks back I thought KP was steadily improving riding at the tough no.5 spot and since he’s dropped to reserve he’s dropped off a cliff

Yes Lawson has had the odd bad meetings as has Danny, KP a bit up and down but you’ve surely got to take into account their experience and position in the team - bombers the no.1, most experienced and thus supposedly our best rider.....the below stats from this years home meetings are pretty damning, bomber and KP stats almost exactly the same, KP has ridden most of the season at 5 which is basically as tough as no.1 really in only his second season in the uk.

Even if they wanted to, what changes could they possibly make tho? Has be available riders to make the difference and I just see where they’d come from! The only way to realistically change bomber for an upgrade would be to say drop him and KP for example as he’s the lowest average their combined is 12.19 then you’d need to lose 0.63 to redeclare at 42.5 meaning an 8 point continental rider and 3.56 left over so perhaps ash Morris - but just can’t see who that continental rider would be? Zagar, a pawlicki, Lindgren? they just don’t want to come here currently! Would be pretty damn harsh on KP or anyone else in the team who are all doing their job for the most part, just bomber letting us down consistently, particularly at home. And on 6.83 who would be available to just replace bomber who’s actually an improvement!!?? Bellego?

Agree

Pieszczek has a superb attitude as well, seems to constantly want to be learning, works hard. still think we’d be better off with Danny at 2, need a better gater in heat 1! pleased with 6 riders efforts tonight, the other one frankly was atrocious, truly truly shocking.

Just got caught in the downpour in kesgrave, if it hit the track as hard as I got wet that could be it! Hopefully no more will come through and all will be fine though fingers crossed

I think Bewley’s troubles at Foxhall have largely been fitness related rather than a dislike tbh - yes the opposition wasn’t to much in the u19 meeting but he looked absolutely superb all night that meeting - fit, full of confidence and fast - would’ve fancied him to score heavily riding that way in any meeting at Foxhall - that said he’s not fit at the moment either so probably would’ve struggled again! Morris very up at down at ippo and in poor form I might have gone with r/r personally

KP seems to regularly improve massively in second half of the meeting at Foxhall as the track changes - often pops out and wins ht13, so could see him picking up rides towards the end and could be very useful at this stage in close meetings

Can’t see an edit button anywhere? Maybe cos I’m on my phone and the mobile layout is somewhat simplified

Lol apologies guys I just put today’s date!! Brain fart.com is there a way to change it!?

https://ipswichwitches.co/ipswich-v-belle-vue-raceday-preview-2/ so another new riding order as KP heads to reserve and jake into the team 1 harris 2 heeps 3 king 4 allen 5 lawson 6 kennett 7 pieszczek personally i would have gone with lawson at 2, heeps 3 and danny at 5 but hey ho, i think all the boys have shown at different time they can score from most positions in the team - either way would like to see a vastly improved performance from bomber this week - 3+1 simply not enough despite those all being vital for the win last week. busk jakobsen in at reserve for belle vue - ironic given he essentially replaces wells his replacement at poole with Aarnio only riding a meeting or two given his recent injury woes! this could be a tough meeting with fricke and bjerre at the top end, worrall and bewley still very up and down in the engine room though! will bewley be fit to ride!? i'm confident of a home win, i'll say 50-40

danny has a piece on the star website this afternoon, explaining he's disappointed but also philosophical given this time last year he was wondering if he'd ever ride again let alone be challenging for the british title with his arm injury! he said it was a toss up between gate 2 and 3 but went with 2 as otherwise he'd have had both cook and wright underneath him, he said at the end of the day the gate position was immaterial he just didn't make a good enough start!!

I don’t think there’s too much odds between king or Lawson at 2/5 I think both are quite adept at popping out of the start in heat 1, but I’d be keen to keep Heeps/Allen together and pair them at 3/4 they’re the pair with the most chemistry on track and two most in form boys in my opinion

Yes, he’s quite frustrating at times, but also superb at times!! Perhaps think a bit of perseverance and another go next year and could become a really top rider on these shores - really and truly still very new to British speedway - took magic about 3 years to truly master it over here for example! Likely to be on around a 5 point something average too which isn’t too big a chunk!

Yeah for Howarth to get away with the jump in ht2 and king to be excluded in 3 we’re both pretty awful decisions from the ref, Howarth should’ve of course then had a warning from ht2 and excluded in his second attempt at cheating the start that was pulled back!! heeps good night allen good night lawson got better KP got a lot better - needs to start scoring from the start of meetings bomber really not good enough king up and down and wrongly excluded kennett must do better - still he’s looking more likely to score at home than bellego though. decent win another 3 points against a team of riders that ride Foxhall well, I said to my dad at the start I think we’ll win but they’ll get a point so a good prediction!! Thought the track was pretty decent today as well, especially given just how hot it’s been past couple of days

So we’re racing 8 tonight then....! 7 on the track and 1 in the refs box! Fantastic! 6 points from 2 rides to the ref thus far

Looking so so lovely and smooth as they bounce bounce bounce on the entry to the first and third bends in the above video of ht13 - better than it was but you’d have anyone believe it’s a billiard table!