Arch Stanton

Does it really matter? Who cares. You could say Emil is only here cos he’s not in the GP’s.

I miss Ermolenko in his office. At least we could rip the pi$$ out of him and have a laugh.

Pretty sure Doyle would have been there if it wasn’t for his rearranged Polish fixture. He done most if not all the Pairs meetings he could last year. Low pay or not he’d have done it. But that’s Doyle for you.

“That’s for sure..”

King and Riss for us in the Pairs. Wasn’t one bit bothered about the Pairs last year and not one bit bothered this time either. Not an event I’m the slightest bit interested in.

I think we will. Peterborough have some riders that can get out of the gate well at Foxhall so I think we’ll see some decent action. Let’s hope so anyway.

At this stage just hoping for a good meeting. Seen some superb racing at times at Foxhall this year.

It’s still bad luck because they chose Jack Thomas and lost him before a wheel was turned. That doesn’t change, it remains unlucky. I agree on the subsequent choices to replace him though, awful.

I don’t like piling in when plenty of others are already at it but I’m finding Tatum almost impossible to listen to. He obviously doesn’t do it on purpose and he seems a decent fella, but the ums and ers grate badly. He’s always done it but never as bad as this when he was the co-commentator rather than the main man.

https://ipswichwitches.co/louis-no-reason-this-season-cant-have-exciting-finish/

You’re right up to a point, but Emil always looked cheap average wise on an 8.00, and he looks even cheaper now. And Hume had a 25% reduction in his average. You could argue we just haven’t capitalised on those averages and they’ve got the team building wrong between Doyle and Emil and Hume at 6. Haven’t had the best of luck to be fair, Jack Thomas at RS and a fit Riss would have made a difference for sure, but I’m still not convinced it would have been good enough. Many of us including me and I know Baldyman has been an advocate of this, have been crying out for the promotion to sign up talented young riders from the continent. Rew was one we all got on board with at the start but that just shows how risky these kind of signings can be. He’s shown the odd brief glimpse here and there, but let’s be honest he’s been a massive disappointment and big reason why we’ve struggled. Coming in on an assessed 5.00 and riding as a 3 and half pointer has been problematic and compounded the issues we’ve had with Riss and a terrible replacement choice at RS.

He has you’re right, so Ipswich have been a little unlucky there. But even with a fit Riss I think we’re at the stage where we’ve got to accept we’ve ballsed the team building up below the top two unfortunately. Reading the comments from Redcar supporters Riss looked uncomfortable against Poole and still not his usual self so I’m unsure what difference his return will actually make. We’ll see.

I was one of the few that wanted Batch back. He was averaging more than King and Riss for most of the season, but a poor end to the year made his average look like he didn’t have a good season because of the way the averages are calculated. For me he was on a good average to return. Hopefully he gets fixed up soon in the Championship and then possibly the Premiership before the cut off…

ALL of them are still out of their depth in some of the heats they end up in. In some heats you may as well run with three riders because you know who’s coming last. An NDL rider who does well will always then get opportunities in the Championship, and Championship riders who do well will then always get opportunities in the Premiership. That’s the way it should be in my opinion. There’s too big a gap in the standard of SOME Premiership races. There’s even a big gap between some Premiership clubs reserves and their Rising Star. It’s a nonsense and needs binning.

He scored 5+2 home to Belle Vue.

Agree on Rowe and Kemp, but personally I’d have plumped for Conor Bailey next and then Dan after him. Maybe Bailey has been asked but thinks the Championship and NDL is enough for him at the moment who knows. I do think the RS system should be shelved next year though. I understand the reasons for bringing it in to help the youngsters along, but I’m not convinced it adds anything positive to a meeting. Poor old Joe lined up on Monday in one heat against Musielak, King and Kerr and was obviously miles behind. Against Leicester he lined up against Emil, Harris and Sedgmen etc etc. he’s nowhere near that standard and neither are the majority of the others so it can’t be good for morale and confidence when you’re finishing half a lap behind the others. Fans don’t want to see that either. Needs binning.

https://britishspeedway.co.uk/2023-rider-statistics/ I always look at the 2023 rider statistics here

You’re right, Dan is definitely an improvement on Joe. Flint is only averaging slightly more on 4.33 and everyone said he was far and away the strongest RS in the league. Jenkins is doing particularly well, averaging over 5 so fair play to him. I just think there’s frustration there that although Dan Thompson is an improvement, there’s a few others who look stronger including our own asset who we’ve just waved off to our play off rivals.

Apparently the 28 days for Barker is up on Friday, not Wednesday as most of us thought. So Barker (if fit) will ride on Thursday at Sheffield.

Which ever way you slice it, we’ve picked up a rider who the club we’re competing with for the final play off spot, have deemed not good enough and replaced. By OUR asset no less. Not a good look at all.

To be fair they’ve been on the rising star list all season and nobody else picked them either. Why didn’t Belle Vue pick either and instead go for Mulford? More to it then we realise I think. Ok Leicester have now recruited Kemp but it’s now June, but he’s an Ipswich asset and Leicester would have needed permission from Louis to do that deal and Louis has seemingly given his blessing despite needing to strengthen the RS spot himself so there’s definitely something going on there.

Or vice versa. It’s definitely one or the other because you wouldn’t intentionally recruit inferior riders if stronger ones were available.

some shot that