By Henry Chard
WHEN AND WHERE…
The ‘Tru Plant’ Witches host the Wolverhampton Wolves at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday 25th July in a Premiership clash that starts at 7.30pm.
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THE TEAMS…
IPSWICH: 1.Chris Harris 6.95 2. Cameron Heeps 6.00 3. Danny King 6.51 © 4. Richard Lawson 6.89 5. Krystian Pieszczek 5.71 6. Edward Kennett 5.71 7. Jake Allen 5.43. Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
WOLVES: 1. Rory Schlein 7.24 © 2. Ryan Douglas 4.97 3. Jacob Thorssell 7.10 4. Nick Morris 5.84 5. Sam Masters 7.19 6. Kyle Howarth 4.94 7. Luke Becker 4.72. Team Manager: Peter Adams
REFEREE: C. Durno
VENUE: Foxhall Stadium
PREMIERSHIP TABLE
| Team | Meetings | Points |
| Poole | 15 | 33 |
| Belle Vue | 16 | 31 |
| Ipswich | 15 | 30 |
| Swindon | 13 | 21 |
| Wolverhampton | 14 | 21 |
| Peterborough | 15 | 17 |
| King’s Lynn | 14 | 16 |
TICKET OFFICE…
Tickets are available on the gate and are priced at £18 for adults, £16 for concessions (60+), £5 for students (16-17). Children 15 and under go free. Official programmes are priced at £3 and are available at the stadium. Car parking is free for all supporters. Debit and credit card payments are accepted.
WHAT’S THE STORY?
The ‘Tru Plant’ Witches return to Foxhall having been on the road in the previous week, looking to get back to winning ways on home shale. Ipswich lost their 100% home record last time out as an injury-hit Poole side were victorious, but the Witches responded well to that defeat. The Suffolk side picked up two points after coming from behind to draw away at Wolves before they collected another point on their travels following a narrow defeat at Poole. Following those two performances away from home the Witches will be keen to back them up with a victory in front of their home fans. The hosts know they are in for a tough test with their opponents taking a consolation point earlier in the season after a 46-44 win for the Witches.
Ipswich are back to full strength with Chris Harris back from international duty with Great Britain at the Speedway of Nations Finals in Russia. Cameron Heeps was the hero for Ipswich last time the two sides met at Foxhall in May as he scored 15+1 that included some fantastic battles against Rory Schlein. It is the start of a big summer of speedway at Foxhall as the Witches look to book their place in the play-offs and Thursday promises to be an entertaining clash.
FROM THE MANAGER…
‘Tru Plant’ Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins looks ahead to Thursday’s clash…
“We have come back well away from home following that defeat to Poole last time at Foxhall, picking up two good results. We go back to Foxhall and we need to improve vastly on our last performance here. We know it will be a very tough meeting and Wolverhampton will be looking to win so we need to be on top of our game. We don’t want to be dropping points at home again because it cancels out all the points we are picking up on the road.
“Wolves have dropped points at home and they need to pick some up on the road. They come to Ipswich with riders who like the Foxhall track. Seeing us lose last time at home will give them a boost and we must make sure that we don’t let anything slip again.
“It will be good to have Bomber (Chris Harris) back and although we only missed him for one meeting, we always want to be racing with our full team together.
“We are in a very strong position alongside Poole and Belle Vue. We can’t rest on that or let that slip otherwise we will soon drop back into the race with everyone else for fourth spot. We need to start building towards having a very strong home track advantage going into the play-offs.”
THE WOLVES…
Wolverhampton have not enjoyed the season that many people predicted before a wheel was turned in 2019. The West Midlands side were many people’s favourites for the title this season, but they find themselves with work to do to make the play-offs at this stage of the year. Wolves have been defeated twice at Monmore Green and dropped more points at home last week as the Witches held them to a draw. However, with fourth spot seemingly up for grabs they will be confident with plenty of meetings to race that they can make the top four and points on the road will be key to their fortunes.
Wolves are full of riders who like racing at Foxhall, as proven the last time they were in Suffolk as they ran the Witches close before being defeated 46-44. Former Witch Rory Schlein captains the side and he scored 15+1 in that defeat whilst Sam Masters has been a heavy scorer at Foxhall in recent years and he will be expecting to score more than the six points he got on his previous visit. The visitors know that Thursday represents a huge chance to add some away points to their tally and they will provide a stern test for the Witches.
AROUND THE TRACKS…
Wolverhampton thrashed Peterborough 59-31 at Monmore Green on Monday in the Premiership.
Digital Media Manager at Ipswich Speedway