By Henry Chard
All the details ahead of our ROWE Motor Oil Premiership R1 fixture with Sheffield.
WHEN & WHERE
The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches host the Sheffield Tigers at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday 25th April in a ROWE Motor Oil Premiership R1 fixture that starts at 7.30pm.
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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
SHEFFIELD: 1. Jack Holder 9.00 2. Kyle Howarth 5.67 © 3. Chris Holder 6.67 4. Josh Pickering 6.71 5. Tai Woffinden 8.41 6. Jason Edwards 3.00 7. Dan Gilkes (RS). Team Manager: Simon Stead
REFEREE: C. Gay
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP TABLE
| Team | Meetings | Points |
| Ipswich | 5 | 9 |
| Belle Vue | 5 | 8 |
| Oxford | 5 | 7 |
| Sheffield | 4 | 6 |
| Leicester | 5 | 6 |
| Birmingham | 5 | 1 |
| King’s Lynn | 3 | 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 continue their busy week with a fixture at Foxhall against the Sheffield Tigers in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership on Thursday.
The Witches were racing on Monday night at The National Speedway Stadium against the Belle Vue Aces where they suffered their first defeat of the campaign, going down 55-35 in Manchester without injured skipper Danny King and Jason Doyle who had his flight back to the UK delayed.
The Suffolk side welcome both riders back to the team for the clash against the Tigers. King has been receiving physio since his crash last Saturday and is feeling fit enough to lead the side on Thursday whilst Doyle will be desperate to put the frustrations of Monday behind him with a big performance against Sheffield.
FROM THE BOSS
Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins gives us his pre-match thoughts…
“We have started the season very well, certainly at home and we are looking forward to Thursday, I know the boys are well up for it. We will relish the challenge of facing Sheffield and everything that they bring and I’m sure it will be a cracking meeting in front of a big crowd.
“As things are, we are very hopefully Danny will be back, he is fully focused and desperate to be back, he does not want to be missing many meetings. Jason will be back, and we will be back to our full one to seven, the team that has done so well at the start of this season.
“Both teams have been tipped by many to be there at the end of the season, but it is a long year. It is another tough early test and I’m sure Sheffield will be looking to do a lot better than their recent visits to our place. I’m sure they will want to get one over us and put a marker down for the season and we certainly want to do the same thing with another convincing home performance.”
THE TIGERS
Sheffield are the reigning champions with the aim of 2024 being to retain their title. The Tigers were runners-up in 2022 before clinching the title in 2023 and despite a lack of home fixtures due to the weather, they have made a strong start to the campaign with two wins on the road already to go alongside their one win at home.
The visitors have two current Grand Prix riders in their ranks with Jack Holder and Tai Woffinden at one and five. Former world champion Chris Holder is at number three to ensure there will be plenty of big-name battles on Thursday night in Suffolk.
Digital Media Manager at Ipswich Speedway