By Henry Chard
The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches welcome back Jordan Jenkins for the 2025 season.
Jenkins is the club’s Rising Star rider and is delighted to return to Suffolk but admits it has been a stressful wait to get confirmation that he would be back at Foxhall.
“It’s probably been the most stressful two months of my career. I’ve always been in a fortunate position where I’ve had a club to go to no matter what but after riding for Ipswich last year I wanted to be back and made no secret of that. Before the season was finished, I was injured and was speaking to Chris (Louis) and Ritchie (Hawkins) about how much I wanted to be back, but it wasn’t confirmed that I would be eligible to be a Rising Star, so it was a bit up in the air. Chris and Ritchie will be glad to get it done as I have been hounding them every week for the past two months! It shows what a good club Ipswich are.
“With the draft system and the way it is, it means Birmingham had first pick. When a club and a rider want to work together, and you have developed a fan base and sponsors in and around that club I don’t think it should be able to be dictated that way. But that’s all ifs and buts, I’m at Ipswich now and I couldn’t be happier.”
The 23-year-old was not happy with how his 2024 ROWE Motor Oil Premiership campaign went but found form in the second half of the season and he is hoping to pick up where he left off in 2025.
“An honest reflection, last season was terrible. That is not anything to do with the club just my own performances were not great especially in the first half of the season but there are a few reasons for that. We got them ironed out and made a lot of changes and invested a lot of money back into it even though we spent so much money over the winter thinking we were doing the right thing it turned out to be the wrong thing.
“I’m young and still learning and I think there was a turning point halfway through the year, I got my first race win in a really wet meeting and the tide turned. I have made no secret that Foxhall is a tricky track, but it is one I have always wanted to ride and conquer. If you can ride there you can almost go anywhere. I’m really happy to be back there next year and have a bit of stability and hopefully I can pick up where I left off because I was getting solid figures home and away and had a good couple of home performances as well towards the end.”
The East Anglian rider had his season ended early due to a thumb injury which he is still recovering from but is hoping to get back on a bike before Christmas.
“It is pretty frustrating because it was a silly crash, it wasn’t a massive crash, and I walked away with not many injuries, but I knew something wasn’t right with my thumb. It took a long time to get the answers, but it is getting there. It has been nearly two months now; I had my cast removed last week and I am now in a thumb splint for another three weeks just to help the ligaments heal and then I will try and get back on the bike this side of Christmas just to see where I am at.
“As soon as January comes, we will be training hard and riding as much as I can which is something I lacked this year. Press day at Ipswich was the first time on the bike and the following week was our first meeting which wasn’t ideal preparation, but we will put that right this year. It is healing well so I am confident in a few weeks that I will be good to go.”
The 2022 National League Riders champion will be working on improving his starting over the winter as he looks to move out of the Rising Star position in 2025.
“I feel like the way I was riding at the end of last season was good and I was finding speed at tracks I don’t usually find speed at. We are going to fine tune a few things over the winter, and I will be working on my gating, I think that is one thing that lets me down, not being able to consistently make gates. We will put a lot of work into that and once I can conquer that, I have the speed and Ritchie and Chris have always said I’ve got the speed and Ipswich isn’t the easiest place to pass so I’ll look to develop a few techniques and start the season strongly with the aim of leaving the Rising Star berth.
“Who knows, maybe I will even go into the main body, it was tough this year when I went to number two after my second meeting and I wasn’t ready for it, it held me back and knocked my confidence. I don’t want that to happen again but if it came round again, I would have a different mindset and would be better prepared mentally and physically. I don’t want to be stuck at Rising Star, I want to progress and keep moving forward.”
Jenkins has been enjoying a deserved holiday in Cyprus but will be back to work soon, something that the youngster feels is important for him to do with regards to his career after speedway.
“I’ve been in Cyprus for some relaxation and once the hand is fully recovered, I will go back to work for one of my sponsors, DW Mechanical, doing a bit of commercial pipe fitting. I think it is good for a rider to do something different in the winter, it makes you appreciate what you have got with speedway. It also gives me a chance to develop skills, we all know speedway does not last forever and you have got to have something to fall back on. I really want to make it to the top in speedway, but it is an expensive sport that needs supporting and the bikes do not build themselves! I’ll get back to work in a few weeks and get ready for next year.”
Digital Media Manager at Ipswich Speedway