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And four riders of sufficient quality to potentially make these passes, race closely, maybe win the race in every race rather than just ht13 &15! No inexperienced young lads still learning their craft and half a lap behind!

Could be close, Jorgensen, Riss, proctor and palm toft all go well at Foxhall! And lamberts at the level where he’s pretty good anywhere now. winnings winning tho whether it’s by a point or 20 and still think we will take it but it’ll be close throughout edit: lewi Kerr is no slouch round Foxhall either! Just Andersen that’s the unknown really

An awful lot of ifs, buts and maybes with this one.... had cook still been in home win for sure, now could be a surprise early away win depending on how the Belle Vue away boys coming off of injury are in their first meetings! Peterborough always a fair track tho so either way a good meeting in store think I’ll go for a home 46-44 win with hans getting it done in ht15

I wasn’t at the p&p but dad said his mate went up and KP looked proper quick....I guess we’ll find out next week! Agree would’ve been good for him tho

The past few seasons in the championship Ipswich have been heavily fancied on paper at the start of the season and it’s done us no favours mentally whatsoever and we’ve been wrecked by injuries year after year looking at our team this year we’ve got a team full of racers that have been written off by most already as wooden spoon candidates....I don’t mind the underdog tag one bit and think several of our team members will thrive off of that tag too, so in a small league of just 7 teams I see no reason why we can’t cause some upsets along the way and make the playoffs! Either way having watched the Leicester challenge last night I’m looking forward to watching this team week in week out! up the witches!

Cook never said he’d dump his sponsor for more money. if the sponsor couldn’t have the main spots then they weren’t coming on board - their choice not Craig’s. buster wouldn’t compromise on sponsor positioning so basically told Craig you can’t have the revenue from that sponsor - so he returned and said well if I lose that sponsor revenue are you willing to increase my points money to cover some of that loss of revenue I’m not on either side of argument here tbh the whole thing is ridiculous, there’s no reason a comprimise shouldn’t have been able to be reached - I object to the notion cook has lost all integrity because he’d sell out and dump sponsors when at no point did he claim that, it’s the new software sponsor that would drop him if not getting their own way with logo position colour etc.

I hope so, they’re both Ipswich speedway 100% and that’s what an owner should be

Difficult one to call, can see both sides of the argument - this close to the start of the season you’d think surely some sort of an agreement should have been able to be reached to have team and rider sponsors in prominent enough positions to suit everyone! With this outcome no one is a winner - Craig is going to find it very difficult to make it pay just riding for Glasgow and Peterborough will struggle to find someone of Craig’s calibre (in the UK) willing to come and take his place! Another wonderful advert for British speedway!

Doesn’t sound like Richie’s thrilled to be doing it!

I think you’re right! Got to expect Rory to picking up 10+ so that’s a significant swing! agree with taps very disappointing no KP as he surely could do with a practise meeting but hey ho

Really hope Cameron’s wrist isn’t as bad as it sounds it could be! He’s clearly worked very hard during the off season to get fit - would be a big blow to him and us to have a set back. i hope the absence of KP is just for these challenges primarily and not setting the tone for the year...

I reckon your right, Danny and camo never worked that well as a pairing - often fighting for the same piece of track on the outside

Yes very pleasing, quoted today as saying he’s trained and trained over winter he’s lost a lot of weight and the fittest he’s ever been! if the rider numbers being worn today seen on Ipswich Instagram story are an indication of riding order come the season then it’s 1. Harris 2. Bellego 3. King 4. Pieszczek 5. Lawson not sure which way round at reserve haven’t seen either of their back!!

Is the diner still open at lunchtime? Only way to get in to the practise past couple of years

Hopefully they’ve finally got the banking perfect for the coming season, the weathers been far more favourable this off season for track works! Hopefully we get a bit of rain between now and the practise day to help it settle! i personally am looking forward to the season and optimistic we will be entertained with the team that’s been put together, and like Danny said in his piece on eadt today - teams on paper written off at the start of the season often then surprise on track! There’s some gritty characters in there not afraid to get stuck in as well experience from top to bottom! I thought Workington looked a poor side before a wheel was turned last season and they won everything!

Magic holder ward, probably the closest trip in recent memory! will never forget the season of 98, not only were Ricksrdssson gollob and Louis an imperious top 3 Scotty emerged that season and as a young lad Toni svab was my favourite rider! The only real disappointment was savalas clouting not being able to fulfil his undoubted natural talent - never got his confidence back after a couple of hefty crashes sadly

Aaron Summers made it known a week or two back he’s owed money still, as are other team members. Said he hasn’t wanted to come out publicly but felt any riders paying the club to use the track for practise days being laid on in jan and feb should know they’re lining the pockets of people still owe other riders money and wanted to explain his disgust that they are able to earn revenue from the track while still owing riders money.

Agree Czech golden helmet is a big accolade scotty finished in the top 10 in the world on 4 occasions and has a record number of British titlesI really don’t see that as underachieving

Having watched more and more higher quality riders drop down into the championship over the last few seasons I feel like the distance between the top riders and bottom riders level in championship is far greater than in the premiership and therefore the racing should be more competitive, especially as most teams have more of a strength in depth look to them - if Heeps/Allen make a good start in ht 4 (5&7’s race) for example they have every chance of beating an opposing heat leader and achieving heat advantages or at the very least closer races between all 4 riders! The drop in point limit for the championship has only exacerbated the situation - next year there’s several riders at reserve in the championship that have barely reached heat leader status in the national league yet, we’ve seen at Foxhall over the last couple of seasons it’s not an easy track for national league graduates, it’s set up grippy for home advantage, while the shape/size means you have to turn the bike quite hard at the same time, tricky skills that take time to develop and are particularly rigorous on the upper body so young lads of 16 barring some exceptional talents will struggle more with as they’re learning and getting stronger. Look at difficulties the likes of Connor mountain has had at Foxhall and he’s been a 9 point rider in the national league for several seasons now and is miles ahead currently of several of the lads stepping up this year yet teams still have Schlein/Harris Kenneth/Lawson nicholls/r.worrall at 1&5 how can you say races with two of these guys in accompanied by two 16years old 6pt national league riders are going to be as competitive as say Harris/Allen vs Andersen/barker....? It’s not! You’ll get two match races in one, with one half a lap ahead of the other. We’ve consistently seen fantastic races in ht13&15 the last couple of seasons when Danny/Rory come up against competitive pairings of a higher skill set and with the top flight we’ll have a lot closer matches races across all four riders in a race! Like chessell, Henry Adkins cannot beat Craig cook or Rory Schlein - maybe one day but not yet and won’t get there in 2019 cameron Heeps Jake Allen could and probably have beat some top boys in the premiership. its been a difficult winter as a witches fan and clearly teambuilding has been tough for Chris and things haven’t gone quite to plan, but I firmly believe we have a side assembled that can be competitive in all our home matches and the entertainment will be much improved than had we of gone into this season in the championship with the new reduced points limit. im hoping first and foremost we can have a season that steered clear of too many major injuries as we’ve had more than our fair share of rotten luck the past few seasons. just having a quick skim over the announced riders assuming Kerr and mpt are back at Lynn I make it 21/49 prem riders racing in championship so that’s more like 42.5% - I know you’re statement of 80% wasn’t calculated but I think this does illustrate there’s a much bigger difference in the two leagues this coming season with the lower points limit for the championship.

Yep, could be a lot worse, could be in the situations of lakeside/Workington/rye house fans and have no speedway at all - instead we’ve got speedway, a team that will be competitive at home at least and top flight speedway which suits me, should be much more competitive racing!

Yep hopefully he’ll come to Ipswich and get about 7 and then 14-15 at both Peterborough and Kings Lynn if buster doesn’t think Kenneth isn’t one of the best riders in the league still then he needs to have a little look around - Kenneth isn’t one of the top 8 in the world anymore but only Doyle in our league is!! In theory there’s 3 heat leader berths in every team so that 21 heat leaders.....I’d love for buster to try convince anyone there’s 21 riders ahead of Kenneth riding in the uk this year!!!

Until he moved to Monaco a year or so ago Nicki Pedersen lived in the uk for years without riding over here - Stevenage I think. Cited the ease of flying to various locations in europe for continental leagues and GPs as the reason for this

It’s a catch 22 tho, if people stop going then speedway in the uk will also be dead

Exactly, I wouldn’t dispute in any way he’s at the tail end of his career an not at the same level of a few years ago but to say he’s just turning up for a pay cheque is being his character into question and imo a misjudgment to suggest this

I think that’s a bit unfair - Chris Harris has been nothing but 100% full commitment wherever and whoever he’s ridden for his whole career. You will not find a more committed rider that never gives up in a race, never knows when he’s beaten