Ipswich captain Danny King is backing in-form Plymouth teammate Daniel Klima to prove a star guest for the Tru7 Group Witches as they head to Sheffield in Rowe Motor Oil Premiership action on Thursday.
The Czech international steps into the Witches side at No.6 as a replacement for suspended Swedish racer Philip Hellstrom-Bangs, and he comes highly recommended after a flying start to 2026 in the Cab Direct Championship.
Klima has piled up the points for Plymouth alongside Ipswich favourites King and Scott Nicholls, who also double up with the Gladiators.
King hopes Klima can bring his red-hot form to Owlerton. He said: “I knew nothing about him coming into the season, but he has impressed me a lot. He’s a great kid and he has a good attitude. His equipment is good, and he is putting in the points.
“When you are coming from a foreign country to these shores, you are riding tracks you might have never seen before, and you are scoring big points, it’s always a positive, and it’s always a good sign for the future.
“It’s the next step up for him. It’s going up to the Premiership. But if he carries on how he has been and with the attitude he takes into his Championship meetings, there is no reason why he won’t score points.”
King knows taking on the Tigers will be no easy task as they track a powerful Aussie spearhead, featuring Speedway GP star Jack Holder, 2012 SGP world champion Chris Holder and all-action skipper Josh Pickering.
But having seen his side win five of their opening six meetings in all competitions, King is hopeful the Witches can take the fight to one of the pre-season Premiership title favourites.
He said: “Sheffield is a tough place to go, but I think we can go there and do something. It’s important to keep it as close as possible if we are going to lose, but I think with the team we have and the way we are going, there is no reason why we can’t go there and get a result out of it. It’s certainly going to be tough. We are all going to have to be on our game. It is going to take a full team to get that job done.”
Ipswich boss Paul Hurry has made no secret of the fact that he feels there is more to come from his Witches stars, and King has been delighted to see his side winning so many matches without hitting their best form.
He said: “I would say it’s a very positive sign. We have a team which we knew would rely on everyone scoring to win matches. But we have been winning matches with a few people having the odd off-meeting. When everyone is firing, we are going to be that team which does go out and score heavily and get some big results.
“We are still managing to get the job done, even when we’ve had a few riders struggle at different tracks. It’s no-one in particular – it has been different riders. We’ve all had an up-and-down meeting at times. But the fact we are covering and getting the results speaks volumes. I am pleased with our start.”
STARTING LINE-UPS
SHEFFIELD TIGERS: 1. Jack Holder, 2. Anders Rowe, 3. Chris Holder, 4. Leon Flint, 5. Josh Pickering (captain), 6. Jye Etheridge, 7. Luke Killeen.
IPSWICH TRU7 GROUP WITCHES: 1. Tom Brennan, 2. Danny King (captain), 3. Richard Lawson, 4. Scott Nicholls, 5. Tobiasz Musielak, 6. Daniel Klima (guest), 7. Jason Edwards.