By Henry Chard
All the details ahead of our ROWE Motor Oil Premiership R2 fixture with Birmingham.
WHEN & WHERE
The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches host the Birmingham Brummies at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday 16th May in a ROWE Motor Oil Premiership R2 fixture. Parade: 7.30pm, first race: 7:45pm.
MEETING SPONSOR
DJ Evans – The DJ Evans Group is a family run business with a history dating back more than a century. They are East Anglia’s premier independent builder’s/engineer’s merchant and architectural ironmonger, offering products and materials from quality assured manufacturers across the industry.
TEAMS
IPSWICH: 1. Emil Sayfutdinov 9.65 2. Dan Thompson 4.46 (RS) 3. Adam Ellis 5.74 4. Scott Nicholls 7.50 (G) 5. Jason Doyle 9.18 © 6. Keynan Rew 4.00 7. Jordan Jenkins 3.83. Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
BIRMINGHAM: 1. Piotr Pawlicki 7.50 2. Steve Worrall 6.14 © 3. Zach Cook 5.53 4. Justin Sedgmen 5.07 5. Tom Brennan 6.37 6. Wiktor Lampart 4.35 7. Leon Flint (RS). Team Manager: Sam Ermolenko
REFEREE: A. Steele
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP TABLE
| Team | Meetings | Points |
| Ipswich | 8 | 15 |
| Belle Vue | 8 | 13 |
| Sheffield | 6 | 9 |
| Leicester | 7 | 9 |
| Oxford | 8 | 9 |
| Birmingham | 9 | 3 |
| King’s Lynn | 6 | 2 |
TICKETS
Tickets are available to buy online (until 7pm on raceday) and on the gate and are priced at £23 for adults and £21 for concessions (65+) & students (21 & under). Tickets for children aged 6-16 are £1 whilst children 5 & under go free. Official programmes are priced at £3.50 and are available at the stadium. Car parking is free for all supporters. Debit and credit card payments are accepted. Turnstiles open at 6.40pm.
THE STORY
The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches host Birmingham at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership.
The Witches are flying high at the top of the table and continued their marvellous start to the campaign with a hugely impressive win away at champions Sheffield on Monday night. The Suffolk side are unbeaten on home shale in 2024 and will be looking to carry on their good form against a struggling Birmingham side.
Danny King is still absent with a hand injury and as was the case against King’s Lynn last time out at Foxhall, Scott Nicholls guests at number four in his place. Despite the differing fortunes of the two clubs so far this season, Ritchie Hawkins knows that his team must stay fully focused against a side that ran them close earlier in the season, with two league points a must ahead of two away trips on the horizon.
FROM THE BOSS
Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins gives us his pre-match thoughts…
“We are looking forward to getting back at home and hopefully a dry evening which is what we need! We will be heavy favourites, but we can’t slack off from the high levels we have been racing at this year because we will get punished if we do. We need to focus and make sure we get a win on Thursday.
“We are delighted to have Scotty and we are fortunate that we are able to call on him, he is the only rider with more experience of Foxhall than Danny left racing! So far, we have covered Danny very well, it is not a long-term solution but having the option of Scott is making life a lot easier and Dougy (Ryan Douglas) has done very well too. At the moment we are covering the skipper well and we need to carry that on over the next maybe three meetings.
“Birmingham have already been here this year and ran us close in a good battle. Sedgy comes in and if he is on a hot night he can cause us problems, so we need to be fully focused. We will give them a warm welcome and we are happy to see them in the league. They have had a few struggles but got a victory against Belle Vue at home which gave them a boost and I’m sure having been to Ipswich already and done well they will come here with no fear.”
THE BRUMMIES
Birmingham have had a tough start to life in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership with just one win from nine fixtures. The Brummies have lost all five of their away fixtures so far and even at this early stage of the season look unlikely to make the top four unless their fortunes turn quickly. The visitors will take heart from their first visit to Foxhall where they ran the Witches close before being defeated 49-41.
The away side have made a change to their team this week with Justin Sedgmen replacing Vaclav Milik. Piotr Pawlicki is now back in the team following his injury and is at number one whilst Zach Cook has moved up from reserve with Wiktor Lampart now at number six.
Digital Media Manager at Ipswich Speedway