Arch Stanton

Same. It’s been such a strange winter with a lot to take in and there’s been a fair few up and down emotions but now the dust has settled and the season is nearly upon us, I’m very much looking forward to it. From an Ipswich perspective, I don’t think we have a great team but that’s not stopping me from looking forward to the season. I’m really interested to see how the Pole takes to Foxhall as he is a rider I’ve not yet seen. Enjoyed the Ipswich/Panthers meetings in the Championship and I’m looking forward to these meetings again in the top flight. Will also be good to see old favourites like Hans Andersen back at Foxhall too.

Totally agree. 3 point increase isn’t fanciful in the slightest. One of the major disappointments in Ipswich moving up a league was missing out of having Drew on a 2 point average. After being title favourites for just about every year we were in the second tier and managing to cock it up sometimes due to chronic luck, but sometimes underachievement, it’s ironic that we move up just when we could possibly have had our best chance yet! Having any rider that is capable of increasing their average by around 3 points will automatically give you a big advantage. Sheffield must be delighted we moved up a league! Our loss is very much their gain and I look forward to seeing him progress this year.

I do think he’ll pop up somewhere during the season when injuries inevitably hit, but I’m honestly not surprised in the slightest that nobody has gone with him from the off.

Oooh exciting...

Not sure tbh. His average dropped from 7.48 in 2017, to 6.64 last year. To be fair, shouldn’t be expecting anything else really as the bloke is now in his 40’s! Not convinced too many see Nicholls as a must have signing any longer at this stage of his career and with all due respect, the second tier is probably right for him now. I personally have no idea on his monetary demands, but there were one or two on the Ipswich thread a while ago saying that Ipswich couldn’t get near to a suitable offer for him, even the word “insulting” was thrown around. Maybe his demands are unrealistic to where his current standing in the sport are these days? Again I have absolutely no idea, just repeating speculation. Having said that, I’d think there’s a fair chance we’ll see him pop up somewhere during the season.

Spot on. It really is bizarre and all they’re doing is pi$$ing off the dwindling support they still have left.

Wolves Peterborough Poole Swindon Belle Vue Ipswich Lynn I might edit this if Lynn’s team turns out different from the one proposed on here. Actually no I won’t I’ll leave them last regardless

Seen this a few times and it’s starting to grate to be honest. The fact is, it’s Ipswich that won’t have Tungate back, NOT that Tungate won’t ride for Ipswich. The rider himself has publicly said he’s asked Chris Louis and Ritchie Hawkins about a team place, and received no reply. He’s simply not welcome back at Ipswich. Good luck to him at Peterborough though. As I said earlier, makes Peterborough stronger. Tungate will be in the 7-8 average range, Harris will drop to 6-7. IMO.

I know a few are disappointed about Harris as they enjoyed watching him during his last stint, but I honestly believe Panthers will be better off as a team with Tungate rather than Harris. Harris will drop somewhere in the 6-7 bracket, whilst Tungate will stay similar to his current average IMO. I also think once dialled in, Tungate will fly around the Showground just like he did at Belle Vue. The track will suit him.

We do have a May bank holiday afternoon fixture though against Lynn so looking forward to that one.

I keep forgetting we HAVE moved up Sue! I keep looking at our line up and thinking we’ve got a cracking Championship team and have a great chance of lifting silverware

Harris done ok at Foxhall last year. Wasn’t brilliant, but he isn’t brilliant anywhere these days. The problem this team has is heat winners. I can see plenty of second and thirds and few last places particularly at home, but there doesn’t look anywhere near enough heat winners there. I can see many many 1-5 reverses in heats 13 and 15. That’s an 8 point swing in the scores in the last 3 heats and that’s where we’re going to have a big problem IMO.

I really really hope that’s the team. We might not finish bottom after all

Totally and utterly wrong I’m afraid.

I wasn’t expecting anything else..

Possibly, and we’ll still be strong at reserve. Could even be the Polish chap if it takes him a while to get used to Foxhall. I quite like Bellego. Inconsistent definitely, that’s why he’s a 6 pointer, but he can produce some eye catching performances as well. I don’t see Bellego dropping his average, so even if he stays 6-6.5 then if he drops to reserve the other two will have upped their game dramatically. Reserve is one area of the team where we’re going to be sound.

I wouldn’t read too much in to what you saw at Wolves last year. Heeps came back last year very poorly prepared and it showed in his performances. He was also damn lucky he didn’t get the chop at Ipswich as well as Wolves and if he had, he couldn’t have had any complaints. I think his close relationship with those at the club kept him in a job and he was a lucky boy. But, we know he’s far far better than that and that first half of the season was the worst we’ve seen him in the half dozen or so years he’s been over here. Slowly throughout the year he got his fitness back and got himself in racing shape. It SHOULD have happened at the very beginning and he was totally unprofessional. But he got there in the end and his scoring returned to the standards we’re used to seeing and if Wolves had hung on to him (and I don’t blame them for sacking him) then they’d have seen an improvement too. We’re hearing that he’s taken a much better approach this winter, kept himself fit and active and that’s good to hear. We’re going to need him to be a potent force at reserve alongside Allen and I think the pair of them will forge a very good partnership down at the bottom end.

The track has been poor for a while. They’ve worked hard on the shape and IMO there’s nothing wrong with the shape whatsoever. But this is a problem that doesn’t seem exclusive to us these days. Plenty of fans on here have been moaning about the tracks at their clubs and the subsequent lack of entertainment, even tracks that have a reputation of always producing good racing in the past. Louis recently said that today’s bikes have changed so much in the way they handle and perform compared to the machines he used to race, that when he’s ridden them they’re “not for him”. I wonder if this is a factor in the way tracks are prepared these days making them slicker and therefore easier to ride? You also have the problem that you’ll never get 7 riders that want the track set up in the same way. Half will ask for plenty of grip and half will want it slick so what gives? Impossible to keep everyone happy and it must be tricky trying to find the right balance.

Good points actually especially the last line. I don’t know much about the Pole but both Louis and Hawkins are convinced he’ll soon be a crowd favourite. We know Harris is entertaining and he WILL be at Foxhall when he’s properly dialled in, and Bellego is entertaining too. King and Heeps we also know can provide good racing around Foxhall so even if the results don’t come, the entertainment will hopefully be there. Hopefully that will be enough as at the end of the day, sport is a results business. Im not impressed with the strength of the team I have to be honest, but I’ll be there for the first meeting and I’ll see how things go.

Hard to disagree. It’s ok for those to say “use it or lose it” but it has to be a two way thing. They have to provide something worthwhile for the fans to pay their entrance fee and an increased one at that. They can’t expect supporters to just turn up out of blind loyalty. I hope I’m wrong, but this very much seems like a team on a par with our last “Elite” league team where fans finally lost patience and voted with their feet. That season nearly killed the club stone dead until we were rescued by the second tier. It’s certainly not as good as Peterborough’s team and I suspect, will be nowhere near Lynn’s either. At least Buster has been true to his word, he really does hate us doesn’t he We have to give the team a chance of course we do, and the team might actually do OK at home, but looking through the home and away averages, we seem to have collected a group that are absolutely dreadful away from the comforts of their home circuit. We’ll get some right batterings on the road.

Ah, is that some cryptic message that he HAS been contacted then

But I’m not a member of the BSPA, I’m a fan that enjoys watching Speedway racing. Am I happy with a lot of what’s going on? No. But it’s out of my control I can’t influence any of it. As I say, all I can do is try and put all the politics to the back of my mind and turn up on a Thursday evening to hopefully still enjoy the racing.

It’s obviously not ideal but it is what it is. We all love Speedway racing otherwise we wouldn’t be on here, so the only thing you can do is try and put all political stuff to the back of your mind, turn up and watch four riders race each other for 15 heats of Speedway and hopefully enjoy what we see. Thats the way I’m going to look at it.