By Henry Chard

All the details ahead of our Premiership fixture with Wolverhampton.

WHEN & WHERE

The ‘Tru Plant’ Witches travel to the West Midlands to face the Wolverhampton Wolves at the Ladbroke Stadium on Monday 31st May in a Premiership fixture that starts at 7.30pm.

TEAMS

WOLVES: 1. Sam Masters 7.35 2. Luke Becker 5.27 3. Nick Morris 5.38 4. Ryan Douglas 4.66 5. Rory Schlein 6.65 © 6. Broc Nicol 4.00 7. Tom Bacon (RS). Team Manager: Peter Adams

IPSWICH: 1. Jason Crump 8.00 2. Jordan Stewart 4.00 3. Cameron Heeps 6.30 4. Jake Allen 5.56 5. Danny King 6.66 © 6. Anders Rowe 3.00 7. Drew Kemp (RS). Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins

REFEREE: C. Durno

PREMIERSHIP TABLE

Team	Meetings	Points
Ipswich	3	7
Belle Vue	2	5
Wolverhampton	1	4
Sheffield	2	1
Peterborough	0	0
King’s Lynn	2	0

TICKETS

All tickets will be sold online only and can be purchased here. Details on covid regulations at the stadium can be found here.

THE STORY

The Witches are back on the road this coming bank holiday Monday as they make the trip to the West Midlands to take on the Wolverhampton Wolves. It’s been a strong start to the campaign for the Suffolk side who are unbeaten after three fixtures and sit top of the early Premiership table. Ipswich recorded a comfortable victory over Sheffield last time out at Foxhall and go into this fixture having built up some early momentum.

The away side will be at full strength for the fixture with Cameron Heeps facing one of his former sides after his spell at the club in 2018. It will be Wolves’ first home fixture of the season and the East Anglian side will be hoping to catch the hosts cold and pick up a similarly positive result as on their last visit to Wolves when they picked up an away draw in 2019.

HAWKINS PREVIEW

Ipswich ‘Tru Plant’ Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins gives his pre-match thoughts…

“Wolves have not ridden at home this year yet so hopefully that will help us a little bit. They are fancied by many and I think the league is very even. I think we are more than capable of going to Wolves and performing. Our riders are more than capable of scoring points around Wolves, it will be tough, like every night this season and they’ll be on a high from their result on Thursday but we will prove a tougher test than they have had.

“We’ve had three meetings and built a bit of momentum already so hopefully we get there, catch them cold with their opening night nerves. We will try and make the most of that and it is somewhere where we have riders who are capable of doing well.”

THE OPPOSITION

Wolverhampton have been a good bet to make the play-offs in recent years, having won the top-flight title in 2016, finished runners-up in 2017 and fallen at the semi-final stage in 2019. They’ll be hoping that 2021 signals a return to the winner’s circle but it’s been a slightly frustrating start to their campaign so far. Their season opening ‘Thanks You NHS Trophy’ event was rained-off and a week later their opening league fixture went the same way. They did finally take to competitive action on Thursday at King’s Lynn and they recorded a phenomenal 32-58 away win in Norfolk to give them the perfect start to 2021. Monday’s fixture against Ipswich will be their first action on home shale.

It is a familiar looking Wolves side with five members of the 2019 side staying on for another season in the gold and black. Former Witch and current British champion Rory Schlein captains the side in his final year in British speedway and he is joined at the top end of the side by Sam Masters who has been with the club since 2016. Nick Morris will be looking to recapture his best form in 2021 and Luke Becker and Ryan Douglas are the final two returning riders from 2019. The club were forced to drop Jacob Thorssell in the winter due to the introduction of the rising star programme with Tom Bacon being their pick for his debut season at this level. American Broc Nicol completes their side.

AWAY DAYS

An adult ticket costs £19, concessions £16, 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.