By Henry Chard
All the details ahead of our ROWE Motor Oil Premiership R1 fixture with King’s Lynn.
WHEN & WHERE
The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches host the King’s Lynn Stars at Foxhall Stadium on Monday 6th May in a ROWE Motor Oil Premiership R1 fixture that starts at 2.15pm.
MEETING SPONSORS
RN Euston – RN Euston Limited has supplied steel framed buildings in East Anglia for over 40 years. Established by Ray Euston the business has grown steadily over the years and now Ray works in partnership with his son Mark. The company is based in Suffolk and work all over East Anglia where they have gained a reliable reputation.
Chedgrave Oxygen Therapy Centre – They offer 1-hour dives in their Oxygen Chamber to help aid relief and recovery for many medical conditions, from Multiple Sclerosis to long Covid.
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
KING’S LYNN: 1. R/R for Tobiasz Musielak 8.33 2. Niels Kristian Iversen 6.43 3. Michael Palm Toft 4.79 4. Benjamin Basso 6.68 5. Nicolai Klindt 6.48 © 6. Patryk Wojdylo 4.63 7. Anders Rowe (RS). Team Manager: Rob Lyon
REFEREE: C. Gay
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP TABLE
| Team | Meetings | Points |
| Ipswich | 6 | 11 |
| Sheffield | 5 | 9 |
| Leicester | 7 | 9 |
| Oxford | 7 | 9 |
| Belle Vue | 6 | 8 |
| Birmingham | 8 | 3 |
| King’s Lynn | 5 | 2 |
TICKETS
Tickets are available to buy online (until 12pm 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 1pm.
THE STORY
The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches host local rivals the King’s Lynn Stars on Monday afternoon at Foxhall in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership.
The Witches were in action last Thursday at Leicester where they produced another magnificent performance on the road to win 47-43 and move top of the table.
Scott Nicholls guests in place of injured captain Danny King at number four, who has had an operation on a broken hand and hopes to be back on a bike in four weeks if recovery goes well. Rising Star Dan Thompson has moved to number two whilst Adam Ellis is now at number three with stand-in captain Jason Doyle moving back to his familiar number five role.
The bank holiday fixture is always one highlighted on the calendar and there promises to be a big crowd in attendance at Foxhall for the East Anglian derby as the Suffolk side look to continue their 100% home record and strengthen their position at the top of the table.
FROM THE BOSS
Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins gives us his pre-match thoughts…
“We are all massively excited to be racing again on Monday, the bank holiday fixture always draws a big crowd, and it is a local derby. We are looking to carry on our superb start to the season and we know how important a local derby is to everyone at the club. We need to get the two points and certainly can’t afford to drop points to King’s Lynn at home.
“I’m delighted that Scott can come in, if Danny is out, he is right up there as one of the top guests, he is absolutely flying this year. It’s Scott Nicholls, what more can you say!
“From my days racing at Ipswich, bank holiday fixtures can make us vulnerable in the past, but I think we put that right last year and I would expect this team we have got to cope with the different challenges of a slightly different track which changes during the meeting. It can be a bit of a leveller at Ipswich the day meetings but with our team it shouldn’t be the case this year.”
THE STARS
King’s Lynn have had a pretty unenjoyable experience in the top-flight in recent years, finishing bottom of the table last year and they have not made the play-offs since 2018. There was a fresh sense of optimism over the winter that 2024 would be a new start for the club but the season has not started as they would have hoped, and the Stars sit at the bottom of the early table although they did pick up their first win of the campaign last time out at home to Birmingham.
The club’s major signing was Tobiasz Musielak who was part of Sheffield’s title winning side in 2023 and he is the new club captain at number one. However, he sustained an injury in the last meeting and rider replacement will be in operation at number one. The Norfolk outfit also brought across Niels Kristian Iversen, Benjamin Basso and Vadim Tarasenko from Peterborough although Tarasenko has already been replaced by Nicolai Klindt.
YOUTH PROGRAMME
Following the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership fixture there will be six heats of Youth Programme racing with the likes of Hayden Watts, Jamie Etherington, Jody Scott, Harrison Rogers, Austin Riches and Lewis Clarke in action.
Digital Media Manager at Ipswich Speedway