Ipswich Witches 2024 serious team predictions

[Bagpuss]

Ouch

[GeneralMelchett]

17 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

Much better thank you  

on readin your comments - id have been really happy to see Tobias at Foxhall if it wasn't for the fact they have Doyle (and hopefully Emil) signed on for 2024

Edited November 28, 2023 by GeneralMelchett

[GeneralMelchett]

15 minutes ago, Bagpuss said:

Ouch

It's a serious point in a way - Kings Lynn have been a perenially weak team for much of my time following Speedway, yes they have had some success but more often than not they are propping up the table (sorry!)

Then my team don't even exist now - but we did win a few things in our 34 of racing!

The Witches are almost there -2 play off finals in 4 years is a decent return but yes they should be looking to go all the way in 2024 if Doyle and Emil are the spearhead again

Edited November 28, 2023 by GeneralMelchett

[2ndbendbeerhut]

1 hour ago, GeneralMelchett said:

We can debate about aunties having balls or not - however for next year the Witches should plan to be stronger at home which is where they needed to be better in 2023, those three home defeats were part of the reason they MAY have finished 5th had the random drug test failure given them a helping hand. The history of 2023 will simply say the Witches lost the playoff final narrowly on aggregate and won the cup.

Why do why need to be stronger at home though? We won at home by 18 points in the play off final, but still didn't win title...  Surely we need to be stronger away? Or do we need to be beating teams by 20+ to help with poor away results? 

 

[GeneralMelchett]

1 minute ago, 2ndbendbeerhut said:

Why do why need to be stronger at home though? We won at home by 18 points in the play off final, but still didn't win title...  Surely we need to be stronger away? Or do we need to be beating teams by 20+ to help with poor away results? 

 

Because the home form was the reason the Witches were not going to get into the playoffs - you have to be in the play offs first, someone has said get riders who can ride Sheffield and Belle Vue better as well in a previous thread that is probably true too - but if you dont qualify for the play offs then you dont even have the chance to test that!

[szkocjasid]

7 hours ago, Arch Stanton said:

It will, but as a supporter that won’t stop there. The dissection of how and why it was lost will rumble on. Certainly will for me anyway until we exorcise that ghost and actually win it! We had Emil on an assessed 8.00 who put over two points on his average, and yet we failed to take advantage because of poor or non decisions by Chris Louis. It’s all well and good having a sly dig at Sheffield calling them the “pick n mix” Tigers and proudly beating his chest that we “finished with the same seven as press day”, but who has the Premiership trophy in the cabinet and who doesn’t? 
 

Ask any supporter if they’d rather have the “we were loyal to our riders” trophy or the actual Premiership trophy and I’m pretty sure what 99% of them would say. Great for the riders themselves, someone mentioned that Musielak contacted Louis for a team place and that doesn’t surprise me. I’d bet my last Rolo that Louis had more riders asking for a team place this year than any other promoter. He’ll be a riders wet dream because they’ll know like Riss this year, that if they run in to problems or poor form, they’ll be supported and not binned off like at other clubs. 
 

But again, do you want to win or not? If you do, you have to be more ruthless. Poole have made harsh and unpopular decisions for donkeys years, dropping riders that didn’t deserve to be to make multiple changes that strengthened their overall team, but look at their trophy cabinet! Winners. Some clubs don’t have much of a budget so struggle to compete, Louis doesn’t have that excuse either. Even when we dropped a division we had one of, if not THE biggest budgets in the Championship, and we couldn’t win a title in that division either. 
 

Only one team can win obviously and no team has a god given right to win, but he has to get this monkey off his back sooner rather than later because we haven’t won a league title under his watch well over a decade after he took over from Tiger despite being lucky enough to have a budget to help him. Winning the Cup was great, but that’s the only (major) trophy he’s won. It’s a poor record. 
 

Some will say it’s not all about winning and it’s the racing that counts, but I’ve never been one of those. It’s Sport, it’s about winning and losing. I’ve heard some people say their team lost but they walked away happy because it was a good meeting. I’ve never understood that either. I’ve NEVER walked out of Foxhall on the back of a defeat happy regardless of how decent the meeting was!
 

That’s the last I’ll say on 2023  on to next year and try again! 

All sensible points

[Arch Stanton]

https://ipswichwitches.co/2024-signing-emil-sayfutdinov/
 

Emil confirmed. 

[hagonshocker]

On 11/27/2023 at 8:23 PM, Hawk127 said:

You can only hope that he learns some humility and does not treat his fellow team members in the same way as he has done in Poland in the season just gone. I doubt he has learnt any lessons but only time will tell if he is a team player and fits in with the ethics of Ipswich riders or he treads his own path which has historically been one of arrogance. No doubt the family will come on here to defend him but that is nothing new. Proof will be in next year’s showing on the track riding for a quality team. 

Christ you off again?.Another personal dig at him and his family? Btw before you start i have zilch to do with his family but you do make yourself look a bit sad 

[TTT]

Good to see Emil back, All the controversy about letting him ride over here this season and he turned out to be most people's favourite rider, Genuine nice guy who's got a lot of time for everyone, Will always give 110% and he's not here just for a pay day and to take the mickey out of the league.

I've never experienced watching Emil around Foxhall (Only the Showground) so it'll be something to tick off my bucket list in 2024.

[SamKM91]

Jenkins and Dan Thompson are Ipswich’s last 2

[topaz325]

Very strong side , looks like the two divisions have a definitive difference in team strength.

Edited November 29, 2023 by topaz325

[Crazy robin]

What’s the points limit in 2024?

[Pob]

8 hours ago, TTT said:

Good to see Emil back, All the controversy about letting him ride over here this season and he turned out to be most people's favourite rider, Genuine nice guy who's got a lot of time for everyone, Will always give 110% and he's not here just for a pay day and to take the mickey out of the league.

I've never experienced watching Emil around Foxhall (Only the Showground) so it'll be something to tick off my bucket list in 2024.

So so quick round foxhall but while others who are quick look on the limit Emil is in total control of the bike. 

Never looks like he's on that fine line between winning or binning it.

Great to have him back.

 

[speedwayfan8]

1 hour ago, Crazy robin said:

What’s the points limit in 2024?

40+ RS

[szkocjasid]

Seen a lot of negativity towards Danyon Hume on the Ipswich & Redcar pages.

Now I've not seen much of his races so cant comment on the number of falls he's had, but looking simply at the stats.

Hume went from 4.09 to 3.87, but as he was stepping out of the RS position, that seems a decent season to me.

Then look at the Prem aves of Rowe (3.76), Dan T (3.70), Gilkes (3.67) & Bailey (3.57).

Now Hume has a lower Champ average than all these riders, so to have a higher (non-RS) ave than all these "rising stars" seems quite an achievement to me?

He also has a lower Champ average than the top "rising stars" Jenkins (4.21), Kemp (4.04) & Flint (4.00) but is not far below them in the Prem.

Think (some) people have been too harsh on him imo

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

9 minutes ago, szkocjasid said:

Seen a lot of negativity towards Danyon Hume on the Ipswich & Redcar pages.

Now I've not seen much of his races so cant comment on the number of falls he's had, but looking simply at the stats.

Hume went from 4.09 to 3.87, but as he was stepping out of the RS position, that seems a decent season to me.

Then look at the Prem aves of Rowe (3.76), Dan T (3.70), Gilkes (3.67) & Bailey (3.57).

Now Hume has a lower Champ average than all these riders, so to have a higher (non-RS) ave than all these "rising stars" seems quite an achievement to me?

He also has a lower Champ average than the top "rising stars" Jenkins (4.21), Kemp (4.04) & Flint (4.00) but is not far below them in the Prem.

Think (some) people have been too harsh on him imo

Don't think it is negativity as such  - more a frustration. He has a good talent , decent speed and big balls - not too bad a combination for a speedway rider

I think his issue is possibly physical limitations as opposed to skill. I believe he suffers significant 'arm pump' which has caused the difficulties in the latter stages of meetings/races

He did a really good job stepping into a difficult position with a significant proportion of meetings not only outside the RS spot for the first time but actually in the main body of the team

His average is a decent achievement in those circumstances 

Yes it could be argued he dropped important points but remember he could only drop those because he got in the position in the first place. Many in and around his level wouldn't have had that chance to 'mess up'

Danyon took some commendable scalps and overall more than did the job asked of him

[Col]

Sheffield watch out.

[hyderd]

Great to see Emil back in British speedway again.

[Arch Stanton]

https://ipswichwitches.co/2024-signing-jordan-jenkins/
 

Jenkins confirmed. 

[bigcatdiary]

23 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

https://ipswichwitches.co/2024-signing-jordan-jenkins/
 

Jenkins confirmed. 

Should do well at Ipswich as he can gate.