By Henry Chard

All the details ahead of our Premiership fixture with Belle Vue.

WHEN & WHERE

The ‘Tru Plant’ Witches host the Belle Vue Aces at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday 20th May in a Premiership fixture that starts at 7.30pm.

TEAMS

IPSWICH: 1. Jason Crump 8.00 2. R/R for Jordan Stewart 4.00 3. Cameron Heeps 6.30 4. Jake Allen 5.56 5. Danny King 6.66 © 6. Anders Rowe 3.00 7. Drew Kemp (RS). Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins

BELLE VUE: 1. Brady Kurtz 7.54 2. Richie Worrall 5.09 3. Dan Bewley 6.15 4. Steve Worrall 5.53 © 5. Charles Wright 6.51 6. Tom Brennan (RS) 7. Jye Etheridge 4.35. Team Manager: Mark Lemon

REFEREE: C. Gay

PREMIERSHIP TABLE

Team	Meetings	Points
Belle Vue	1	3
Ipswich	1	3
Sheffield	1	1
Peterborough	0	0
Wolverhampton	0	0
King’s Lynn	1	0

TICKETS

Tickets are available to buy online (until 12pm on raceday) and on the gate and are priced at £19 for adults, £17 for concessions (65+), £5 for students (16-17). Children 15 and under go free. Official programmes are priced at £3 and are available to order online with your tickets and at the stadium. Car parking is free for all supporters. Debit and credit card payments are accepted. All the details on tickets for the 2021 season can be found here.

THE STORY

The Witches return to competitive action at Foxhall for the first time since October 2019 as they host the Belle Vue Aces in the Premiership. It’s been a long wait for Foxhall faithful to see their team in action after the 2020 season was cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic and the start of the 2021 season was delayed due to the ongoing restrictions in the country. However, the season is underway, and racing is back in Suffolk with a big crowd expected to mark the occasion.

Ipswich were in action on Monday as they travelled to King’s Lynn for the local derby and they started in season in fantastic fashion with a 47-43 win on the road to claim three league points. The home fans will be looking forward seeing their side in action on home shale with all eyes on star signing Jason Crump. The three-time world champion makes his long-awaited home debut against one of his former sides and is sure to get a big reception alongside fellow home debutant Anders Rowe who was the star on Monday night for the Witches, scoring 12+2. Jake Allen makes his first appearance of the season after missing Monday’s win at King’s Lynn, but his visa paperwork is now complete and the Australian takes his place in the side. Sadly, the same cannot be said for his compatriot Jordan Stewart whose visa has been delayed further and rider replacement will be used at number two in his absence. It promises to be a stern test for the home side against a side heavily tipped for a successful season.

HAWKINS PREVIEW

Ipswich ‘Tru Plant’ Witches team manager Richie Hawkins gives us his pre-match thoughts…

“It’s going to be a super tough meeting on Thursday, and we will all need to pull together and start like we did on Monday at King’s Lynn. We will have to put in a massive shift again to get a winning result and it should be a close meeting.

“We are waiting for the postman to arrive with Jordan’s paperwork. Jake is all sorted now but hopefully the postman will arrive with Jordan’s bit of paper and we will be a full 1-7 on Thursday.

“Hopefully everyone will come out to support us with tickets available on the gate if they haven’t sold out already. I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone who we didn’t see on Monday and we need to do them proud like we did on Monday.”

THE OPPOSITION

Belle Vue will be looking to make improvements in 2021 after they just missed out on the play-offs in 2019. The likes of Dan Bewley, Steve Worrall and Jye Etheridge are Aces regulars and they have been joined one the league’s top riders in Brady Kurtz. Former Witch Richie Worrall and 2019 British champion Charles Wright have also been snapped up for the new season and Tom Brennan completes their side as their Rising Star rider. The Aces also began their campaign on Monday with a home fixture against Sheffield which went down to the wire with the side from Manchester prevailing with a 47-43 win over the Tigers.