Arch Stanton

Ipswich aren’t “dropping” anybody. Every rider is out of contract on October 31st.

Well it’s going to be, this years team finished on 42.09. Unbelievably, out of this years top 4, Ipswich is the only team that finished below 40 and can strengthen the side. The other three will have to shed points somewhere.

I’m sorry but anybody who believes Jordan Jenkins was available to Either Birmingham or Kings Lynn are incredibly naive.

Wouldn’t be at all surprised if that’s the team, especially if it’s a 39 limit.

Brennan now needs to be dropping the Championship from his busy calendar. I personally thought he was spreading himself far too thin this year and he MAY have have progressed even further with a few more breathers here and there. If Ben Cook doesn’t feel Championship racing benefits his career anymore, then Tom Brennan certainly shouldn’t. He’s on an upward trajectory and has bigger fish to fry.

Good shout. Think they were interested last winter as well. Could slot in nicely.

There’s a domino effect with riders. If Brennan joins Ipswich then there’s likely no place for Ellis so could see him at either Lynn or Birmingham.

And neither should it be. Telling a 23 year old rider that he’s going here or there and he doesn’t have a choice, is utterly ridiculous. I’m not a fan of the scheme but if they insist on having it, cobble together the list and let all clubs fight it out amongst themselves and let the riders choose where they want to go. It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.

Confirmed that two riders, Anders Rowe and Dan Thompson both will receive a 25% reduction due to exiting the rising star scheme. Think Dan would have been in the team anyhow, but it’s even more important that he’s signed up so nobody else gets the benefit of such a hefty reduction. That will allow us to pack the top end, whilst also having a very good reserve pairing. Recipe for success.

If that is the Sheffield team I think it’s there to be got at. I don’t think anybody expected Chris Holder to do quite as well as he has. He was undoubtedly on a downward curve in his career but seems to have had an Indian summer and sparked back in to life. For that reason I personally think he’s more than maxed out his average and it looks a tad expensive to me. To a lesser extent, I think Woffinden also done a little better than expected. I think both their averages will drop off slightly, add that to a long tail and I don’t think it’s quite there to be winning anything.

There’s an awful lot of myths written on here regarding Guy and it’s frustrating to read. Despite popular belief, he hasn’t a clue who Louis is signing or who he intends to chase (if he did I’d know the full line up every year before it was announced!), he doesn’t “do the deals” contact riders or stump up extra cash if Louis asks him to help get a superstar over. He pays his sponsorship money every winter, and that’s his involvement over lock stock and barrel. Chris Louis does everything at the club, everything.

Bit of an eye opener that!

They have to knock this ridiculous “draft system” on the head. You shouldn’t be getting any favours due to a previous years poor performance in any case, but riders HAVE to decide where they want to ride.

I can’t speak for Sheffield, but you seem keen on spouting this b0llocks along with @ouch “Moneybags” this, “chequebook” that. A complete myth where Ipswich are concerned. The main sponsor doesn’t pay anywhere near what people think he does, in fact, he pays less than the previous main sponsor before him. Yes, the club are fortunate to have a couple of local, very loyal “partner” sponsors also which helps, but they don’t pump in vast sums either.

Allowances have clearly been made especially in the Jenkins/Ipswich case. They’ve put their argument forward (local sponsorships etc) and been given allowance to “retain” him even though he wasn’t a rising star this year.

Yeah, I’m sorry but I don’t believe it for a second.

Neither did Louis or Hawkins it seems. On Flint. He was Birminghams rising star this year. From todays press release.. ”Clubs who completed the 2024 season with a rising star who is also eligible for 2025 were given the option of “protecting” that rider and automatically declaring the same rising star for next season”. So from that, are we to assume Birmingham didn’t want Flint and wanted someone else?

https://ipswichwitches.co/2025-signing-jordan-jenkins/ This kind of confirms that the “draft pick” doesn’t really work. They didn’t know if he was going to be eligible for some time so people questioning whether he’d be allowed back on the list are justified. Reading between the lines here and I could be wrong, but Jenkins is hinting here that Birmingham possibly wanted him as they had first pick, but he dug his heels in and in the end got the move he wanted. The draft pick is a nonsense that doesn’t work. Have a rising star list if you must, but let clubs go for whom they want, and let riders ride where they want.

Well Jenkins as rising star then. That’s a massive boost.

Lots goes on behind the scenes. Birmingham struggled to be competitive, last thing they need is someone pinching one of their leading lights from a season that provided very little. We’ve just read there’s been meetings as recently as yesterday, wouldn’t be a bit surprised if there wasn’t a gentleman’s agreement not to pinch the riders they wanted to keep to help them be competitive next year. All guesswork though, he might still end up at Ipswich we’ll have to wait and see.

Excellent news.

Depends if a deal was done whilst there was uncertainty at Birmingham. I’d heard Brennan definitely agreed to return to Birmingham before the uncertainty so we’ll have to wait and see. Birmingham hoping to announce first signing this week, wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s Brennan.

That’s a fair point. Looking at the 2024 stats there’s been very little between them. You also have to factor in that King was riding the last third of the season injured so that will have affected his scoring. Not sure about his position in the team though. I think I’d prefer Rew at 2 with Doyley, King in the engine room with Brennan.

There’s still weeks to go until the AGM so anything can still happen. If the worst happens and Birmingham don’t come to tapes, they may decide to drop the points limit to help another club come up and be competitive.

TBF to King, he was riding injured. He still had/has issues with his broken hand right up until the final meeting. Not sure whether he’s going under the knife again this winter to correct it, but it’s an issue that needs sorting. He can’t grip the handlebars properly and is restricted in the movement of his hand. “Why ride then”? It’s his living, no riding no money. Let’s have it right, the team Blue Witch has named above is an excellent one.