Ipswich Tru7 Group Witches reserve Jason Edwards is determined to keep stepping up as he returns to former club King’s Lynn for a crunch Premiership Knockout Cup clash on Monday.
Edwards made a flying start to his top-flight campaign, scoring nine points from three race wins as the Witches defeated King’s Lynn 50-40 in their season opener at Foxhall last Thursday.
With a vital bonus point at stake over two legs, Edwards will be determined to reproduce that form at a track where he raced for the Stars in 2022 and 2023.
Ipswich’s rising star from Billericay, who won the 2025 Rowe Motor Oil Premiership title with the Witches, has made a habit of taking steady steps forward in recent seasons.
With his fast starts paying dividends and ensuring he was always in contention even when he didn’t hit the front, Edwards is determined to continue his upward trajectory against Ipswich’s East Anglian arch-rivals.
He said: “If we can carry this on, that would be great. Even in the race when I ran a last and Bomber (Chris Harris) passed me, the nice thing is I was in the mix every time. That’s a big thing for me. I need to make that step this year. It’s little baby steps at the moment, but we’re getting there.
“It’s a long season and it’s about consistency as well. If I can just keep chipping away and improving a little bit every time, that would be great.
“I know I never set the world alight overnight, but if I can keep improving little by little and keep learning, that’s a big thing. When I make a mistake, I need to ask why I made it.
“Let’s see where we are at the end of the year. It’s just nice to be racing again! It felt like a long winter, and this is what we want to be doing. To start the year like this is brilliant, and for the team to win is great. We will see what Monday night brings.”
Edwards believes starting the season at home could give his side the edge over the Stars after they kicked off their campaign at Foxhall.
He said: “It was nice having the first meeting at Ipswich. We have all got used to how the team works and now we can build on this. It’s not like we’re starting from fresh like King’s Lynn were last Thursday.
“It will be close at King’s Lynn, so to get the aggregate bonus, we are going to have to work really hard.”
Getting the better of the Stars on aggregate would be a huge boost to Witches’ hopes of reaching the Premiership Knockout Cup Final, where they would face the winners of the Northern Section, which features Sheffield, Belle Vue and Leicester.
Both the Stars and Witches must face Premiership newcomers Northampton over two legs, and Edwards hopes they can overcome their Southern Section rivals to reach the final. He said: “It would be more meetings for us. But it’s Premiership speedway, so we’ll see. All we can do is focus on ourselves and keep plugging away.”
STARTING LINE-UPS
KING’S LYNN STARS: 1. Max Fricke, 2. Paco Castagna, 3. Chris Harris (captain), 4. Ben Cook, 5. Jan Kvech, 6. Cooper Rushen, 7. Jody Scott. TEAM MANAGER: Rob Lyon.
IPSWICH TRU7 GROUP WITCHES: 1. Tom Brennan, 2. Danny King (captain), 3. Tobiasz Musielak, 4. Scott Nicholls, 5. Richard Lawson, 6. Philip Hellstrom-Bangs, 7. Jason Edwards. TEAM MANAGER: Paul Hurry.