CardinalSin

http://www.ipswichwitches.co/index.php/news-centre/954-scottish-tigers-visiting-this-week R/R for Berge reason tbc. ? and Halsey at reserve for strawberry pavlova.

Not sure about this one. The good news for us is that it's not a day meeting! The concern for me is the returning Manzares and how fit and ready he is. We saw how badly Hawkins was off the pace the first couple of meetings back from injury especially that first meeting back at Peterborough, so I'd much rather Manzares was eased back in against easier opposition than Glasgow! It's risky especially with Heeps also missing so fingers crossed he's fit and on the pace because we'll need him to be. He's the key, if he's amongst the points then I think we'll win, if he's off the pace then it could well be back to back home losses which would be a disaster. Can see Glasgow picking up a point at least in either scenario. They've got a good record at Foxhall in recent seasons.

This is now Friday 22nd May according to the Ipswich fixture list.

His left wrist... So now left AND right! Poor lad isn't having much luck with his wrists is he!!

I'm not convinced it's ever gone away despite what's been said. I really hope this doesn't affect a promising career long term..

That wrist?

Great result all things considered!

Some riders need to get their backsides in gear though. Tungate just hasn't really started at all whilst after a promising start, Heeps has gone backwards again. Hawkins is proving the biggest problem though. Never a world beater, but a steady eddie 5 pointer who chips in with vital points in most meetings. So far he's chipped in with nothing. A few riders are currently riding way below their abilities.

"It is intriguing" admitted Berwick co-promoter Dennis McCleary last night. "Both teams seem equally changed, but not necessarily disadvantaged" Is he taking the piss?

Really pleased Sheffield signed Garrity in time for this one as he was box office on Good Friday! Bit of a nutter but very entertaining.

Cook is indeed very good at Foxhall, but then again so is King as you say Baldy. Should be a good battle. Cook is guesting for Stead on Thursday at Sheffield and he seems to be their guest of choice. I was hoping maybe the would book him for next Monday at Foxhall to get an early taster of King V Cook but Edinburgh are also riding that day so that obviously won't happen. Wonder who Sheffield will book instead.

You'd expect Covatti to be a trump card at reserve having ridden for Sheffield last season but he didn't score particularly well around there! Seems to be riding a lot better this year than last though so we'll see.

It's actually really nice fish and chips at the track! But it won't interest Shads because the fish has skin on it

He is, but he's been on fire recently. Paid max on Thursday at Foxhall and a 14 point haul at Somerset last night so could be good timing for the Rockets!

All ifs buts and maybes. Tungate has been awful here every time, last night he was good value. King scored 15 last season (13 in real money) with Newcastle, only the 8 last night and I'm not sure he'll score as low next time. Impossible to tell. I will be honest though, I don't think this Somerset team is anywhere near as strong as previous season's and I was quietly confident we could pick something up last night. Somerset have a track record of making changes when necessary, and I think a change or two somewhere along the line will be needed if Somerset are to pick up silverware this season. I could be wrong though! We'll see.

That's part of our strength this year though. We've built in a way that we'll always be pretty strong at reserve no matter who drops to reserve. We could well see Manzares at reserve after the first set of averages and we'll still look potent. If these were play off fixtures, we would have sailed through comfortably over the two legs so things are looking very promising for us.

Not really. I'm sure they'll be made aware beforehand to be sensible.

"Thursday's meeting is sponsored by Holmes Plant & Construction and a new event will be introduced at the end of the night, a 'Witches Shoot Out' Rather than just picking a rider of the night we are now offering the meeting sponsors the opportunity to pick their choice of four Ipswich riders to race off in the Shoot Out to determine the rider of the night. We will add the total points up for the season and then have a Super Shoot Out at the final team meeting to find the Meeting Sponsors 'Rider of the Season'. This obviously gives fans the added bonus of an extra race to watch every week!" http://www.ipswichwitches.co/index.php/news-centre/940-witches-ready-for-devils-on-Thursday I like that!

Aye got ya

Nope

Think he'll struggle to repeat that this year

From Mike Bacon in the Ipswich Star "This result was very much needed after Monday's poor effort at Peterborough by the Witches and some of the racing was top drawer. "It wasn't a case of the Witches gating all the time, far from it, as they came from the back on many occasions, thrilling the good sized home crowd. "Tungate produced a brave and stunning first lap pass on the outside of Richie Worrall in heat four. It was a jaw-dropping ride from the Aussie" I couldn't make the meeting last night, so is Mike Bacon over egging the omelette here, or is "Scotsman" being unfairly and overly critical of the meeting? Or possibly a bit of both and the meeting was somewhere in the middle? On a side note, good to read it was a healthy crowd!

It's a fog off! Thankfully got a result just in time.

Thats a very good point. I wasn't at the Rye meeting, but it sounded like the complete opposite to the conditions at the Showground and like you say, the Panthers managed to adapt to completely different conditions brilliantly. That bodes well and show the Panthers riders are flexible and can adapt to any kind of conditions. Our riders on the other hand.... Thankfully for us the majority of tracks seem to be prepared more on the slick side than the heavy side!

I think we'll win, but as has been said we need to stop Somerset picking up the point. Unfortunately Stefan Nielsen has had two rides for Belle Vue tonight and has two duck eggs to his name. He's struggling and we need to hope his confidence doesn't take a major nosedive Edit: Make that Three duck eggs. Poor lad is really struggling.