By Henry Chard
All the details ahead of the third round of the Premiership Pairs.
WHEN & WHERE
The ‘Tru Mix’ Witches pairing travels to King’s Lynn for the third round of the Premiership Pairs at the Adrian Flux Arena on Thursday 7th July which starts at 7.30pm.
TEAMS
WOLVES: Sam Masters, Steve Worrall, Leon Flint (RS). Team Manager: Peter Adams
BELLE VUE: Max Fricke, Matej Zagar, Tom Brennan (RS). Team Manager: Mark Lemon
IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Danny King, Danyon Hume (RS). Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
KING’S LYNN: Josh Pickering, Richard Lawson, Jason Edwards (RS). Team Manager: Alex Brady
PETERBOROUGH: Chris Harris, Hans Andersen, Jordan Jenkins (RS). Team Manager: Rob Lyon
SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Adam Ellis, Connor Mountain (RS). Team Manager: Simon Stead
REFEREE: A. Steele
PREMIERSHIP PAIRS TABLE
| Team | Points |
| King’s Lynn | 16 |
| Sheffield | 16 |
| Ipswich | 14 |
| Belle Vue | 12 |
| Wolverhampton | 4 |
| Peterborough | 2 |
TICKETS
Tickets are available on the gate. The meeting will also be streamed online here. A BSN+ subscription is required to watch. Each round can be purchased individually, priced at £12.99. BSN’s coverage starts at 7.00pm. BSN’s web URL is watch.britishspeedway.co.uk. BSN also has an App which is now available on Amazon Fire TV and on all IOS (Apple) devices.
THE STORY
The ‘Tru Mix’ Witches pairing heads to King’s Lynn on Thursday for the third round of the Premiership Pairs. King’s Lynn were victorious at Peterborough in the opening round of the new competition before Ipswich won their home round at Foxhall last time out to put themselves back in the mix in at the top of the standings. Just four points separate the top four teams with Wolverhampton and Peterborough needing a big night in Norfolk to get themselves back into contention.
Team manager Ritchie Hawkins has elected to field Jason Doyle and captain Danny King for this round with Danyon Hume as the ‘Rising Star’. Doyle has been phenomenal in the opening two rounds and scored a 15-point maximum on his last visit to the Adrian Flux Arena. Who he is partnered by is less of a clear decision at the moment but skipper King gets the nod for this round and he scored eight points in the Witches’ win at King’s Lynn last month. Danyon Hume continues as the ‘Rising Star’ and is guaranteed at least one ride as part of the regulations.
HOW IT WORKS
The competition is a new addition to the calendar for 2022 with all six Premiership clubs staging a round throughout the season. Each club will have two riders and a ‘Rising Star’ at each round with scores accumulated over all six rounds before the overall aggregate winner is declared after the final round of the competition at Belle Vue in September. 12 points will be awarded to each round winner, eight points to second, six points to third, four points to fourth, two points to fifth and no points to sixth.
There will be 15 qualifying heats of action at each round with the top scoring team from the qualifying heats going directly to the final. The teams placed in second and third will compete in a semi-final with the winning side from that race progressing to the final to decide the round winners. Each team has five qualifying heats each and the ‘Rising Star’ must take at least one ride during the meeting. The points scoring system for the competition in each race will be 4-3-2-0.
FROM THE BOSS
Ipswich ‘Tru Mix’ Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins gives us his pre-match thoughts…
“We have gone back to Jason and Danny. Jason has been in superb form, so it is brilliant to have him. Since the last Pairs round Troy (Batchelor) has probably been in his worst bit of form of the season in the last few meetings whereas Danny has picked up form. That is why we have gone for this pairing.
“It will be another really tough meeting and a strong line-up. I know how good Danny is around King’s Lynn when he is on it and Jason has been superb everywhere. We go into it with confidence believing our pairing can be pushing to win another round.
“We need to build on our victory last time out and have another good round and that will see us in a good position for the second half of the competition.”
THE LINE-UP
It will be another strong line-up at the Adrian Flux Arena and by the end of the evening we will have reached the halfway point in the competition. The hosts and current joint leaders remain unchanged with captain Josh Pickering and Richard Lawson looking to deliver success in front of their home supporters. Joint leaders Sheffield bring Grand Prix rider Jack Holder into their pairing alongside British champion Adam Ellis. There will be another Grand Prix star in action with the Aces bringing Max Fricke back into their duo as he partners Matej Zagar. It was due to be an all-Australian duo for Wolverhampton as they declared Sam Masters and Nick Morris for this round but Steve Worrall will now partner Masters. Peterborough stick with Chris Harris and Hans Andersen with both themselves and Wolverhampton needing a good round to avoid being cut adrift at the bottom.
AWAY DAYS
An adult ticket costs £20, concessions (over 65) and students £18 and children (ages 12-17) £5. Official programmes cost £3. Facilities include free floodlit parking, seated grandstand, covered standing grandstand, restaurant, fully stocked bar and function room, four licenced bar outlets, merchandise stands, toilets and a first aid room. For travel information head here.
For more information about the club head to King’s Lynn’s official website.
Digital Media Manager at Ipswich Speedway