By Henry Chard

All the details ahead of our ROWE Motor Oil Premiership R1 fixture with Oxford.

WHEN & WHERE

The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches host the Oxford Spires at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday 18^th April in a ROWE Motor Oil Premiership R1 fixture that starts at 7.30pm.

MEETING SPONSORS

Farnham Leisure Ltd – Catering to all of your caravan servicing, accessory fitting and repair requirements. They are a Bailey of Bristol main solus dealer for new Bailey touring caravans, while they also offer a vast selection of used caravans. They also have a camping and leisure shop which boasts a wonderful selection of products.

The Thursday Night Club

TEAMS

IPSWICH: 1. Emil Sayfutdinov 10.22 2. Jordan Jenkins 4.37 3. Danny King 7.28 © 4. Adam Ellis 5.67 5. Jason Doyle 9.12 6. Keynan Rew 4.00 7. Dan Thompson (RS). Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins

OXFORD: 1. Maciej Janowski 8.00 2. Scott Nicholls (G) 5.32 3. Charles Wright 6.20 4. Rohan Tungate 6.63 5. Chris Harris 6.89 © 6. Erik Riss 4.84 7. Ashton Boughen (RS). Team Manager: Peter Schroeck

REFEREE: W. Jarvis

ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP TABLE

Team	Meetings	Points
Oxford	4	7
Ipswich	3	6
Belle Vue	3	4
Leicester	4	4
Sheffield	3	4
Birmingham	5	1
King’s Lynn	2	0

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 return to action at Foxhall on Thursday as they host the Oxford Spires in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership.

The two sides met at the Oxford Stadium last Thursday with both sides going into that fixture unbeaten, but it was the Witches who emerged victorious on the road to inflict a first defeat of the season on the Spires. That win continued Ipswich’s perfect start to 2024 with four wins from four so far.

The home team are at full strength for Thursday’s test against Oxford as they look to maintain their 100% record this season and a win would see them claim their first bonus point of the year after last week’s 48-42 away win against the Spires.

FROM THE BOSS

Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins gives us his pre-match thoughts…

“It is great to be back at Foxhall after the disappointing rain-off a couple of weeks ago, we are all looking forward to our Mondays and Thursdays together after the start to the season we’ve had, and we are looking forward to this one.

“The start to the season has been as good as we could have hoped for, and I think a lot of that is down to the continuity we have got in the side from last season. The guys we have brought in know the club well. We had a great run at the end of last season, and we have carried on from there at the start of this season.

“I’m sure everyone is excited to welcome Oxford back; it has been a long time since we have seen them race at Ipswich and the bring a very solid side full of riders that know Foxhall well again. I think it is going to be a really tough test. Last Thursday at Oxford was really tight throughout and I’m sure it will be the same on Thursday and they will be coming to turn us over like we did at their place, and they are capable of doing that.”

THE SPIRES

Oxford have enjoyed a positive comeback to the top-flight, a league they have not raced in since 2007. The club currently sit top of the early table with three wins from four outings and have already tasted success on the road with a win at Birmingham earlier this month.

The visitors are without Lewis Kerr on Thursday after he broke his ankle in a crash last week against Ipswich with Scott Nicholls guesting in his absence. The Spires have also made an early team change bringing in former Ipswich rider Erik Riss to replace Nicolai Klindt in a move that will certainly raise some eyebrows.