By Henry Chard
All the details ahead of the fifth round of the Premiership Pairs.
WHEN & WHERE
The ‘Tru Mix’ Witches pairing travels to Belle Vue for the fifth round of the Premiership Pairs at the National Speedway Stadium on Thursday 27th October which starts at 7.30pm.
TEAMS
PETERBOROUGH: Chris Harris, Benjamin Basso, Jordan Jenkins (RS). Team Manager: Rob Lyon
SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Justin Sedgmen, Connor Mountain (RS). Team Manager: Simon Stead
WOLVES: Sam Masters, Ryan Douglas, Ace Pijper (RS). Team Manager: Peter Adams
BELLE VUE: Brady Kurtz, Matej Zagar, Tom Brennan (RS). Team Manager: Mark Lemon
IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Erik Riss, Anders Rowe (RS). Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
KING’S LYNN: Richard Lawson, Frederik Jakobsen, Jack Smith (RS). Team Manager: Alex Brady
REFEREE: C. Ackroyd
PREMIERSHIP PAIRS TABLE
| Team | Points |
| Ipswich | 38 |
| King’s Lynn | 26 |
| Sheffield | 24 |
| Belle Vue | 22 |
| Wolverhampton | 10 |
| Peterborough | 8 |
TICKETS
Tickets are available on the gate and 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 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 Manchester on Thursday for the fifth round of the Premiership Pairs. The round at the National Speedway Stadium was due to be the final one of the tournament, but with Tuesday’s fixture at Leicester postponed, there remains one round to be raced after Thursday’s meeting. Ipswich lead the competition having won the last three rounds at Ipswich, King’s Lynn and Wolverhampton. The lead is a healthy one with second place King’s Lynn 12 points behind, but the Stars, Sheffield and Belle Vue can all still catch the Witches with a strong fifth round showing at Belle Vue as they look to close the gap at the top before the sixth round. Wolverhampton and Peterborough are both out of contention.
Team manager Ritchie Hawkins once again fields number one Jason Doyle for this round whilst Erik Riss comes in for Troy Batchelor with Anders Rowe as the ‘Rising Star’. Doyle has been sublime everywhere he has gone in British speedway this season and has been ever-present in this competition racking up the points. Riss makes his debut in the competition having recently returned to the side after his ankle injury. Rowe 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 will have another go at the fifth round and it is still the same situation. We want to put in another good performance to keep ourselves right in there going into the last round. The weather forecast is looking good which is positive.
“We have chosen to put Erik in this round, he is worth a shot around Belle Vue. We have been there a couple of times this year, Danny (King) has been there a few times and not looked quick enough and the same applies to Troy, so we have nothing to lose by putting Erik in. We would have used him in the earlier rounds if the rules allowed at some points. It is great to have him back in the team and to give him another meeting and I’m sure they will put in a good performance.”
THE LINE-UP
Sheffield have Grand Prix rider Jack Holder in their side with Justin Sedgmen coming in for Adam Ellis for his first appearance in the competition. King’s Lynn were due to bring in Richie Worrall for this round but Frederik Jakobsen is now a late replacement for Worrall. He is partnered by Richard Lawson with the Stars sitting second in the table going into the penultimate round. The recently crowned Premiership champions and hosts Belle Vue have chosen skipper Brady Kurtz and have brought in Matej Zagar to replace the injured Max Fricke. Peterborough have ever-present Chris Harris in their pair with Benjamin Basso in for his debut alongside him. Wolves stick with Sam Masters and he is joined by Ryan Douglas for this round.
AWAY DAYS
Ticket prices can be found here and official programmes cost £3. For more information about your visit to the National Speedway Stadium, head here.
For more information about the club head to Belle Vue’s official website.
Digital Media Manager at Ipswich Speedway