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Rory Schlein a preferred choice of guest for me - press release on twitter says bombers still hoping to ride on Thursday, I know he’s a tough lad but I hope if he does ride it’s because he’s genuinely fit enough

You’ll see jack riding no.8 all season I’d expect unless for injuries. It’s quite farcical as I understand it - can only have 3 foreign riders from your squad declared in the 1-7 for any given match but can have a 4th foreigner as no.8 - so Toruń use Doyle, c.holder and iversen, they then declare a junior polish squad member in the team at say no.4 but don’t have to ensure he has 3 rides or anything so then just put jack in wherever they feel like! I think they can even declare a polish rider in the team as r/r and then have foreigner at no.8! Seems barmy to me! Yet polish league is supposedly the promised land!

Could be close meeting this one, like someone had earlier said all of the witches can go well at Kings Lynn - think we’ll need to get off to a good start, hopefully bomber is fit and Lawson has found some better speed in the bikes - has scored well at Eastbourne but not necessarily the best indicator for KL, rather different tracks! A couple of good meeting for Cameron over the weekend for Edinburgh him and Jake could be match winners, if bombers fit and bikes sorters I think this one will be a 2-4 point win going either way - hopefully the witches! sadly not going to make it, just haven’t got time to get up there after work but hope there’s a good lot witches Fans that can!

i think your timeline is a little skewed it was well into the 2000’s before the top boys all upped and left. To illustrate here’s a list of a few riders that rode in the elite league in 2005: tony rickardsson, Chris Louis, hans Andersen, Leigh adams, Ryan Sullivan, Antonio Lindback, Pepe Protasiewicz, Billy Hamill, Greg Hancock, Jason crump, Nicki Pedersen, lee Richardson, Scott Nicholls, Sebastian ulamek, Greg Walasek, Freddie Lindgren, Peter Karlsson, Michael max, ales & Lukas Dryml, Mark Loram, Andreas Jonsson, Kenneth Bjerre, Joe screen, David norris, Chris Harris, Kris kascperzak, many others that arguably worth a mention, Troy Batchelor, Matej Ferjan, Jason Lyons, Mads Korneliussen, Martin Smolinski my memories of the late 90’s as a witches fan is the team of 98 - gollob, rickardsson, Louis, Svab, nicholls & clouting!

Who was available and willing to ride in the uk on a 7.67 average....? Not that many, and pretty predictable where they all have ended up so not that extra point would’ve realistically made much difference - kascper might have been a gem and work out a trump card....Lambert is what he is admittedly kascper did not look great Thursday but in fairness Foxhall isn’t an easy track for taller guys, you’ve gotta turn the bike quite hard and their left leg makes this more awkward so will often take more than a couple of visits to master in less experienced riders

Would love to be a “fly on the wall” inside chapmans van on the way back to Kings Lynn tonight positives for all 7 witches tonight, a useful start to the season and great to start off with a win in front of a good size crowd - hopefully just as many of not more will be there again in a fortnight! superb couple of passes from bomber, pure entertainment, and I particularly enjoyed Cameron’s battle and pass over proctor in ht14 Erik Riss has always been good at Foxhall - should absolutely be looking at him for any potential needs for a guest throughout the year

Oops

In the race format for supporters cup, am I right in think 4&5 ride as a pair and the no.3 with the reserves?

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.