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Great first night performance Emil said afterwards his first bike going back to the manufacturer lol… got stuck on the kerb trying to shepherd Ellis home and Bewley blasted round the outside … and as always after the meeting he hung around signed every autograph posed for every picture what a credit he is to British speedway King was awesome tonight and Dan T did so well boy he can gate Jordan after a duck egg in the reserves race did well after and Ellis did very well and a great signing if he maintains that Rew was ok not spectacular and Scott did a good job with 7 from 4…. Think Doyle would have had at least 10 though For Belle Vue Kurtz and Bewley looked awesome early on but faded especially Kurtz Lidsey Cook and Bailey were the let downs for Belle Vue but Mountain rode very well One last point had a good chat with Bewley after the meeting … said he actually loves the Ipswich track but he wasn’t riding great last season but feels he has his mojo back …. Level headed a pleasure to chat to and had time for everyone afterwards … again a credit to British Speedway … something Tai and Lambert could learn from

7 years in jail could change a person everybody deserves a second chance and Pretty sure Mark Courtney got released for drug offences and the next month he was riding for Glasgow

Short answer yes! To win by 12 with no Doyle & Emil having a couple of iffy rides by his standard early on is impressive. Emil was pure class in his last 3 Ellis looked a real upgrade on Riss. King was superb & had real skippers ride in heat 12 Rew looked better than last season improving for sure. Nicholls good value as always however Doyle would clearly have got at least another 5 or 6 points Jenkins solid start think he will come on leaps & bounds. Will really benefit from being around Doyle. Thompson picked up where he left off before injury a real trier. All in all very happy & certainly wouldn’t swap this Ipswich 7 for anyone else.

Probably still tangled up in the tapes somewhere

You've just narrowed it down to not plenty of riders there none worthwhile anyway. Need a thrid heatleader

he is never not rusty, bloke is useless and has been for years

The clock and riders being ready to race before the 2 minutes expire is a uk thing, a welcome new rule.

I'd suggest Lynn had the roughest end of the pineapple in terms of the MPT/stating pole incident and Kemp clearly touching the tapes but Leicester probably just about deserved to win, there were clearly several rusty riders on show and I'm satisfied enough with a five point deficit.

I watched it courtesy of BSN who I am pleased to say again made a very decent show of it. The track was dreadful, the starting area was just ridiculous, gate four was so good nearly everyone won from it, you could count the number of genuine passes on one hand and gate 2 was as bad as gate 4 was good. Clearly both teams were suffering from match practice and it was close so it kept the meeting watchable. The Referee “Dave Watters” had three decisions to make all night and cocked them all up big time, the first when Kemp totally locked up and was collected by Thompson in heat 2 was frankly embarrassing, how on earth that wasn’t Kemp excluded, Thompson awarded second and Wojdylo third is anyone’s guess. Then we had the starting gate pole left out on track in heat 3 when it clearly obstructed Palm Toft, my understanding is these are not allowed any more, so that was missed by the start Marshall and the referee who both should have known that. Interestingly it wasn’t used again after that. And the third cock up was Kemp hitting the tapes in heat 14 which should have resulted in his exclusion but again the referee did nothing. BSN announced a FIM referee was also watching near the booth and was approached for his comments but declined to comment, I bet he did. Clearly the previous days weather didn’t help track preparation but why isn’t this track ever a decent racing strip which allows some kind of passing and close racing, despite many years and quite a few changes. I was also surprised that their didn’t appear to be too many watching for the first match of the season.

If they don't try ,they will never know. First proper media day for many a year. Small steps .

Vadim Tarasenko made 2 stunning passes in heat 13 alone, proving that there was nothing wrong with the track and if your setup was right and your balls big enough it was more than possible to make a good race of it. People are often too quick to point the finger at the track when maybe their attention should be concentrated elsewhere.

And clearly one rusty referee

Woffy looked good. He also got on the mic at the end and said how good it is to have Oxford back and what a good job everyone has done (I think the centre green presenter was a bit reluctant to see what he'd say ).

Struggled initially as Kurtz and Bewley started the meeting so well, big difference to last season (so far its only one meeting so lets not get too carried away) was the solid middle order - Ellis seems a very decent no 2, Rew did enough at 4 and the Reserves both were solid / promising. Heats 12 and 14 were often a weak spot for the Witches last year conceeding 1-5's but tonight it was 4-2 and a 3-3. Kurtz and Bewley aside Belle Vue were fairly weak - Lidsey was a surprise never seemed on it tonight. Nicholls wa s asolid guest - yes with Jason the Witches would probably have won by more Enjoyable first meeting, decent crowd 2k+ I would say and one or two very good races. Give Bewley his due he found a lot of speed to go from 3rd to 1st over a couple of laps in heat 6. Once Emil started winning tho it was all over. edit - a Great Performance from Danny King too!

It seems to me that Drew Kemp mentally beats himself up far too much. On the face of it I'd say he had a pretty decent night tonight, 6 points and a great heat win from reserve despite his off in heat 2. Yet he was still beating himself up for coming 3rd in his last race after the meeting. At this stage of his career he really needs to lighten up a bit imo

Surely that is a declaration for the new season not a re-declaration.

Big balls Tarasenko!

Comfort break? Remember NKI on the bog at Peterborough once lol

Ipswich redeclared over the closed season.

Stay real? Have a word with yourself. If that was the case then every Sky Sports interview post match would be full of expletives, especially this season with the state of VAR. There isn't, those professional footballers check themselves in front of the cameras, anybody with any level of common sense would. Swearing is not 'staying real' it's embarrassing in a professional media press day. As others have said, in the heat of the moment after crashing you forgive them to a degree if emotion gets the better of them when a camera is stuck in their face. But, in that setting yesterday no, and with Woffinden I actually get the impression at times he does it deliberately, which is also not 'staying real' it's pathetic. Now don't get me wrong, I swear all the time. especially at the City Ground, but I check myself when appropriate, i.e. kids around or I am doing media interviews (done a few).... it's not rocket science.

Always good for a few sound bites is Tai... It is what the sport (in this country) needs... Some spice and tribalism to get the fans (and atmosphere), going...

Without knowing the detail of what really went wrong, I say that his only mistake was not paying closer attention to the history of who he was dealing with and not getting a contract in writing and signed first before playing the social media game.

Hate to be a negative nancy but I'd just give up now tbh, Life's too short to cling on to a pipe dream that's never going to happen. It's time to face reality imo and two obvious things make it impossible for a return even if the council did help the Panthers out as it'll just be another Brandon Stadium situation at best. 1. Tomalin's mouth can talk the talk but he cant walk the walk, Never has someone said they're going to do so much whilst producing F all. 2. Buster is an AEPG insider who wouldn't sell the club anyway due to AEPG keeping him sweet with brown envelope money and they'll continue to do so (If needed). Buster doesn't want Speedway at Peterborough full stop because it'll just cost him money and he knows full well that the vast majority of happy clapper Panthers fans will end up at KL on a regular basis to support all the faces they've been seeing for a good few years at Peterborough.

Absolutely "spot on". A tremendous achievement by all concerned in the Battle to keep Brandon away from the clutches of developers and maintaining hopes alive for the eventual return of Stox & speedway. Unfortunately, the war has yet to be won so no doubt more fights will arise. However, it does look like, at least, the end of the beginning as been established!