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Ipswich Witches Speedway
  • Ipswich Witches Speedway
  • Home
  • News
  • Tickets
  • Fixtures/Results
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  • Archive Results
  • Team
  • Rider Results
  • Media
  • Club
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IT IS GOING TO BE AN INTERESTING YEAR

Posted on

15 March, 2017

I need a rest after this winter! It’s mainly been the usual stuff of organising sponsorship and advertising and things like that and there are other people at the club who help me with that. It has gone reasonably well but we need more financial input into the club. Hopefully the team will start strongly, we are starting as many people’s favourites to be up there and the racing will be very entertaining and with a bit of luck that will be enough to tempt another local company on board with us.

We’ve retained Tru7.com as title sponsors which is great and Guy (Nicholls) remains as keen as ever to see us succeed on and off the track and more people coming to watch is the aim. We’ve also gained RN EustonConstruction as a partner sponsor which is a great news. They have been supporting the club by sponsoring various meetings and getting involved with programme advertising for a number of years so it is really nice to get them more involved. The air fence sponsorship continues, it was always the plan to have that for two years to cover the cost of renewing the air fence last year and that has gone well. Just about everyone has renewed that and we’ve gained Scott Properties on the air fence sponsorship and they are another company that have supported us over the years so that’s good.

The big job of the winter has been making a few changes to the track which hasn’t been going well due to the unfortunate regular rain showers and frost after Christmas but we have had a couple of breaks in the weather and managed to crack on and it’s looking really good now. It’s not 100% finished but it is almost done and we’re 100% confident it will be done by Press Day. I’m looking forward to seeing the lads out on the track and getting their feedback and seeing what they think.

I’ve kept in contact with all of the lads and got a late call up to go to France with Danny (King) and Danyon (Hume). It was a great couple of days and they both got plenty of laps in and I managed to get half a dozen laps in myself which was fun! It was good to see Danyon riding strong and feeling good and not having any backlash from his injuries last year and that was an important fitness test for him and it went really well.

Ritchie (Hawkins) has a really good attitude towards management. He got on well with the riders and he understood them and where they are coming from and their needs and their shortcomings. He was able to get his message across and communicate with them. Having had a very good side but having made a poor start to the season made me aware that changes were going to be necessary and he had the right ideas and wanted to make the changes so we enabled that to happen. He really did instil a belief into the team after we made the changes that we could climb the table and make the play-offs which we did. We fell short when the pressure was on at the end. Having had pressure on us for a while to win every meeting, it did take its toll in the end but Somerset were better than any side in the league and that showed.

I was shocked when I looked at our team on paper after we had completed it and was wondering how we had done it with 2.5 points less than we had previously! It looks stronger than any team we have built previously since we have been in the Premier League, which is now the Championship. it was surprising but I’m very happy with it and we are in many people’s top bracket to do well and rightly so. I don’t think anyone wants to label anyone ‘favourites’ as it looks competitive again this year. We have a strong top five and we have the best two ‘2-pointers’ in the league with the most potential. I’m very pleased with the side and enthusiastic and looking forward to working with them and watching them and obviously with the track changes I think it is going to be a really interesting year.

We start against Sheffield and they are a lot of people’s favourites to be up there again so we couldn’t have asked for a tougher start. Berwick in the cup is also a tough one and we need a cup run and need to stay in that competition so they are two very full on fixtures to start with. As soon as it was a Saturday meeting  against Sheffield I decided to run our ‘Kids for free’ offer as there’s no school on Sunday and we want to get a big crowd in. We need plenty of support for the lads and need to get off to a good start.

It’s been a strange and tough winter for the sport and I have to say it could have been a lot worse if wasn’t for the chairman and his management committee team. Buster Chapman has put so much work into this winter to help maintain Belle Vue and Leicester and he did everything he could to try and save Coventry. They did everything they could to keep them on track but in the end it wasn’t going to be possible. The TV deal was a shocker for everybody. We had no reason to not want Sky Sports on board as they have been a great media partner for speedway for many years now and it is a shame to have lost them but the fact we have had another major player in BT Sportstep in is great for the sport.

Thank you for your continued support,

 

Chris

Recent Post

  • RACEDAY GUIDE | BELLE VUE (H)
  • RACEDAY REPORT | BELLE VUE 48–42 IPSWICH
  • RACEDAY GUIDE | BELLE VUE (A)
  • RACEDAY REPORT | IPSWICH 43–47 SHEFFIELD
  • ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL DATES CONFIRMED

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Find Previous Articles

IT IS GOING TO BE AN INTERESTING YEAR

Posted on

15 March, 2017

I need a rest after this winter! It’s mainly been the usual stuff of organising sponsorship and advertising and things like that and there are other people at the club who help me with that. It has gone reasonably well but we need more financial input into the club. Hopefully the team will start strongly, we are starting as many people’s favourites to be up there and the racing will be very entertaining and with a bit of luck that will be enough to tempt another local company on board with us.

We’ve retained Tru7.com as title sponsors which is great and Guy (Nicholls) remains as keen as ever to see us succeed on and off the track and more people coming to watch is the aim. We’ve also gained RN EustonConstruction as a partner sponsor which is a great news. They have been supporting the club by sponsoring various meetings and getting involved with programme advertising for a number of years so it is really nice to get them more involved. The air fence sponsorship continues, it was always the plan to have that for two years to cover the cost of renewing the air fence last year and that has gone well. Just about everyone has renewed that and we’ve gained Scott Properties on the air fence sponsorship and they are another company that have supported us over the years so that’s good.

The big job of the winter has been making a few changes to the track which hasn’t been going well due to the unfortunate regular rain showers and frost after Christmas but we have had a couple of breaks in the weather and managed to crack on and it’s looking really good now. It’s not 100% finished but it is almost done and we’re 100% confident it will be done by Press Day. I’m looking forward to seeing the lads out on the track and getting their feedback and seeing what they think.

I’ve kept in contact with all of the lads and got a late call up to go to France with Danny (King) and Danyon (Hume). It was a great couple of days and they both got plenty of laps in and I managed to get half a dozen laps in myself which was fun! It was good to see Danyon riding strong and feeling good and not having any backlash from his injuries last year and that was an important fitness test for him and it went really well.

Ritchie (Hawkins) has a really good attitude towards management. He got on well with the riders and he understood them and where they are coming from and their needs and their shortcomings. He was able to get his message across and communicate with them. Having had a very good side but having made a poor start to the season made me aware that changes were going to be necessary and he had the right ideas and wanted to make the changes so we enabled that to happen. He really did instil a belief into the team after we made the changes that we could climb the table and make the play-offs which we did. We fell short when the pressure was on at the end. Having had pressure on us for a while to win every meeting, it did take its toll in the end but Somerset were better than any side in the league and that showed.

I was shocked when I looked at our team on paper after we had completed it and was wondering how we had done it with 2.5 points less than we had previously! It looks stronger than any team we have built previously since we have been in the Premier League, which is now the Championship. it was surprising but I’m very happy with it and we are in many people’s top bracket to do well and rightly so. I don’t think anyone wants to label anyone ‘favourites’ as it looks competitive again this year. We have a strong top five and we have the best two ‘2-pointers’ in the league with the most potential. I’m very pleased with the side and enthusiastic and looking forward to working with them and watching them and obviously with the track changes I think it is going to be a really interesting year.

We start against Sheffield and they are a lot of people’s favourites to be up there again so we couldn’t have asked for a tougher start. Berwick in the cup is also a tough one and we need a cup run and need to stay in that competition so they are two very full on fixtures to start with. As soon as it was a Saturday meeting  against Sheffield I decided to run our ‘Kids for free’ offer as there’s no school on Sunday and we want to get a big crowd in. We need plenty of support for the lads and need to get off to a good start.

It’s been a strange and tough winter for the sport and I have to say it could have been a lot worse if wasn’t for the chairman and his management committee team. Buster Chapman has put so much work into this winter to help maintain Belle Vue and Leicester and he did everything he could to try and save Coventry. They did everything they could to keep them on track but in the end it wasn’t going to be possible. The TV deal was a shocker for everybody. We had no reason to not want Sky Sports on board as they have been a great media partner for speedway for many years now and it is a shame to have lost them but the fact we have had another major player in BT Sportstep in is great for the sport.

Thank you for your continued support,

 

Chris

Recent Post

  • RACEDAY GUIDE | BELLE VUE (H)
  • RACEDAY REPORT | BELLE VUE 48–42 IPSWICH
  • RACEDAY GUIDE | BELLE VUE (A)
  • RACEDAY REPORT | IPSWICH 43–47 SHEFFIELD
  • ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL DATES CONFIRMED

Search Categories

  • 2016 & 2017 Previews
  • 2016 & 2017 Reports
  • 2016 News
  • 2017 News
  • 2018 News
  • 2018 Previews
  • 2018 Reports
  • 2019 News
  • 2019 Previews
  • 2019 Reports
  • 2020 British Final
  • 2020 News
  • 2021 News
  • 2021 Previews
  • 2021 Reports
  • 2022 News
  • 2022 Previews
  • 2022 Reports
  • 2023 News
  • 2023 Previews
  • 2023 Reports
  • 2024 News
  • 2024 Previews
  • 2024 Reports
  • 2025 News
  • 2025 Previews
  • 2025 Reports
  • Aaron Summers
  • Adam Ellis
  • Anders Rowe
  • Ben Barker
  • Cameron Heeps
  • Chris Harris
  • Chris Louis
  • Competitions
  • Connor Mountain
  • Coty Garcia
  • Craig Cook
  • Dan Thompson
  • Danny Ayres
  • Danny King
  • Danyon Hume
  • David Bellego
  • David Wallinger
  • Drew Kemp
  • Edward Kennett
  • Emil Sayfutdinov
  • Erik Riss
  • Ipswich Town Football Club
  • Jack Thomas
  • Jake Allen
  • James Sarjeant
  • Jason Crump
  • Jason Doyle
  • Jason Edwards
  • Joe Jacobs
  • Joe Thompson
  • Jonas Jeppesen
  • Jordan Jenkins
  • Jordan Stewart
  • Justin Sedgmen
  • Keynan Rew
  • Krystian Pieszczek
  • Kyle Newman
  • Mark Riss
  • Michael Härtel
  • Morten Risager
  • Nathan Greaves
  • Nico Covatti
  • Nicolai Klindt
  • Niels-Kristian Iversen
  • Oliver Greenwood
  • Paul Starke
  • ReRun Productions
  • Richard Lawson
  • Ritchie Hawkins
  • Rohan Tungate
  • Rory Schlein
  • Supporters Club
  • Tai Woffinden
  • Tom Brennan
  • Track Shop
  • Troy Batchelor
  • Tru Mix
  • Tru Plant
  • Tru7 Group

Find Previous Articles

Find Us

Address
Ipswich Speedway
Foxhall Stadium
Foxhall Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP4 5TL

Contact
Email: enquiries@ipswichwitches.co
Phone: 07859 802828

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Find Us

Address
Ipswich Speedway
Foxhall Stadium
Foxhall Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP4 5TL

Contact
Email: enquiries@ipswichwitches.co
Phone: 07859 802828

Pages

  • Home
  • News
  • Tickets
  • Fixtures/Results
  • Team
  • Admission
  • Media
  • Club
  • Contact
  • Raceday Shout-outs
  • Sponsors

Other Pages

  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok
  • X
  • YouTube

Find Us

Address
Ipswich Speedway
Foxhall Stadium
Foxhall Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP4 5TL

Contact
Email: enquiries@ipswichwitches.co
Phone: 07859 802828

Pages

  • Home
  • News
  • Tickets
  • Fixtures/Results
  • Team
  • Admission
  • Media
  • Club
  • Contact
  • Raceday Shout-outs
  • Sponsors

Other Pages

  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok
  • X
  • YouTube

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