Ipswich team manager Paul Hurry admits the Tru7 Group Witches “just weren’t at the races” as they slumped to a 62-28 loss away to Belle Vue in the Rowe Motor Oil Premiership on Monday.
Despite an excellent 11-point haul from skipper Danny King and six paid seven from Tobiasz Musielak, the Witches suffered their heaviest loss of 2026 at the National Speedway Stadium.
Aces star Zach Cook led the charge for the hosts on 16 paid 17 points, while captain Brady Kurtz notched a 14 paid 15-point maximum.
Hurry was far from happy with the result on a night when Belle Vue raced without former Witches favourite Jason Doyle, who was sidelined after crashing out of the DEWALT FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Wroclaw last Saturday.
“They just weren’t at the races,” Hurry said. “The only two that were at the races were Danny and Tobi. Danny did a No.1’s job. Danny has decent engines. He makes the best of what he has, and it shows. He hasn’t got the fastest bikes out there, but he puts himself on the line and does the job he knows he can do. It’s the same with Tobi.
“There were no excuses. They are all capable of doing the job that we ask of them, but it takes too long for them to get going on this sort of track. We started off alright when we came up here in April and put on a decent show. We came up on Monday and were really poor.”
Hurry admits sluggish starts cost his side. He said: “Around Belle Vue, you cannot give them a head start. You have to make starts, and Danny and Tobi were making half-decent starts and had some good rides. But the rest of them were not making starts. It’s a bit gutting. I never dreamt that we would get that much of a hiding.”
Hurry will hope to see his side bounce back as they host the Aces at Foxhall on Thursday, bidding to overcome a 51-39 aggregate deficit from the first fixture in Manchester on April 20.
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FINAL SCORES
BELLE VUE ACES 62: 1. Brady Kurtz 14+1, 2. Norick Blodorn 9+1, 3. Peter Kildemand 11+3, 4. Zach Cook 16+1, 5. Jason Doyle R/R, 6. Tate Zischke 8+1, 7. Will Cairns 4+1.
IPSWICH TRU7 GROUP WITCHES 28: 1. Tom Brennan 3, 2. Danny King 11, 3. Richard Lawson 4, 4. Scott Nicholls 0, 5. Tobiasz Musielak 6+1, 6. Philip Hellstrom-Bangs 1, 7. Jason Edwards 3+1.