By Henry Chard
All the details ahead of the fourth round of the Premiership Pairs.
WHEN & WHERE
The ‘Tru Mix’ Witches pairing travels to Wolverhampton for the fourth round of the Premiership Pairs at the Ladbroke Stadium on Monday 18th July which starts at 8.00pm.
TEAMS
KING’S LYNN: Josh Pickering, Richard Lawson, Jason Edwards (RS). Team Manager: Alex Brady
PETERBOROUGH: Chris Harris, Scott Nicholls, Jordan Jenkins (RS). Team Manager: Rob Lyon
SHEFFIELD: Adam Ellis, Jack Holder, Connor Mountain (RS). Team Manager: Simon Stead
WOLVES: Sam Masters, Nick Morris, Joe Thompson (RS). Team Manager: Peter Adams
BELLE VUE: Max Fricke, Brady Kurtz, Tom Brennan (RS). Team Manager: Mark Lemon
IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Troy Batchelor, Danyon Hume (RS). Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
REFEREE: W. Jarvis
PREMIERSHIP PAIRS TABLE
| Team | Points |
| Ipswich | 26 |
| Sheffield | 24 |
| King’s Lynn | 22 |
| Belle Vue | 14 |
| Peterborough | 6 |
| Wolverhampton | 4 |
TICKETS
Tickets are available on the gate an online in advance here. 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 7.30pm. 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 Wolverhampton on Monday for the fourth round of the Premiership Pairs. Ipswich lead the competition after winning on home shale Foxhall in Round 2 before backing that up with victory in Round 3 at King’s Lynn. The lead is a narrow one with Sheffield just two points behind and Round 1 winners King’s Lynn in third just four points off top. A good showing by the Belle Vue Aces can get them back in contention whilst it is looking like Peterborough and Wolverhampton are in desperate need of a victory to keep their slim hopes alive of winning the tournament.
Team manager Ritchie Hawkins has elected to field Jason Doyle again whilst Troy Batchelor comes in for Danny King for this round with Danyon Hume as the ‘Rising Star’. Doyle has been ever-present in the competition so far and has been a big points scorer in every round. Batchelor partnered Doyle to victory in Round 2 at Foxhall and is back in the side for the trip to Wolverhampton. Both riders were key in Ipswich’s win over Belle Vue last Thursday in the Premiership with Doyle scoring 11 and Batchelor top scoring with 13+3. The pair also scored well in the Witches’ win at Wolverhampton two weeks ago with the former world champion hitting 11 and Batchelor chipping in with 7+3. 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 are leading the competition at the moment, so we go there wanting to cement that position and have another great round because we have really enjoyed winning the last two rounds. I have gone with Doyley and Batch. We say it every round, but Doyley picks himself and I felt over the two meetings we have had there, Batch has been slightly better than Danny. The decision was made before Thursday’s win over Belle Vue but his great form in that meeting fills us with confidence and I feel it is a place he likes, and it suits him. They have done one round together and won it so hopefully they can repeat that.
“We have been great at Wolves twice this year and both times we were led by Doyley and last time we had Erik at reserve so that really helped. We will need Troy to back Doyley up well like he did in the round at Foxhall and like Danny did at King’s Lynn.
“We have had two great rounds but due to that poor first round we are only two points in front at the top. That is nothing in this competition, so we need another strong round to keep us there going into the last two rounds.”
THE LINE-UP
The hosts will be looking for a much-needed round victory on home shale and have put faith in Sam Masters and Nick Morris to get the job done. Sheffield have been beaten finalists in every round so far and will be hoping that Adam Ellis and Jack Holder, in for the injured Tobiasz Musielak, can go one step further in Round 4. King’s Lynn remain unchanged in the tournament with Josh Pickering and Richard Lawson out to pick up another round victory. Belle Vue field Max Fricke and Brady Kurtz for this round with the Aces needing a good points haul at Monmore Green. Peterborough bring in Scott Nicholls for his first appearance in the competition to partner Chris Harris with the Panthers struggling at the bottom end of the table.
AWAY DAYS
An adult ticket costs £19, concessions £17, juniors (aged 13-18) £8, children (aged 6-12) £1 and children under the age of 5 go free. Official programmes cost £3. For travel information head here.
For more information about the club head to Wolverhampton’s official website.
Digital Media Manager at Ipswich Speedway