Arch Stanton

And our old friend @AceBelle laughed at both of these posts. 😁

Mate my predictions are absolutely guff always have been 😂

You’ve got a better memory than me Baldy! Can’t even remember much about this morning let alone years ago 😁

I’d snap your hand off for an 8 point defeat right now. Not sure we’ve ever got that close before? An 8 point defeat and I’d be extremely confident on Thursday at Foxhall. Emil wasn’t on the pace in the Peter Craven last week, in fact he looked awful. Maybe he was trying things, maybe he wasn’t. But we’re going to need double figures from him here. We look such a strong side on paper and we won everywhere last year with our full side except here. This track is an obvious issue for us. King, Ellis, Dan and Jenkins all scored poorly on every visit although Dan had a decent meeting from reserve first time out scoring 9.

https://ipswichwitches.co/hawkins-backing-class-of-2025-for-success/

That didn’t happen throughout the entire meeting Steve.

Has gate 4 always been bad btw? Absolute graveyard!

Good lad Tom!

Wasn’t a heavy crash but landed on his left shoulder which is obviously a concern. Took a while to get to his feet but once he did, didn’t seem to be in too much discomfort. Fingers crossed he’s ok for tomorrow. Didn't look on the pace all night though tbh. On the flip side, Ellis and particularly Brennan did. Well done to Tom on winning the Ben Fund.

Comfortable home win for me.

Just looked at last years results, we really do stink here don’t we 🙄

Nowt wrong with that. Get out there and get on with it 😉

I know you’re hard of learning, but read through today’s postings on this thread very carefully, then when you’ve done, read through them carefully again. Then apologise to Aries who was actually sticking up for you..

https://ipswichwitches.co/raceday-guide-belle-vue-a/

What I will say though about Leicester, they’ve never been shy in making changes so although the starting line up isn’t a title winner, it’s how you finish that counts the most. The side in the latter months could look totally different to the one that starts the season.

Leicester were never gonna challenge this year whatever with all due respect. They only just made it through last years semi (with huge help from the ref) against an injury ravaged Ipswich without our top end so this year having Howarth instead of Lawson they don’t have a snowballs chance. Just don’t think an on the way down Cook with all his issues is as big a loss as it seems.

Not sure it makes a huge deal of difference to the strength of Leicester tbh. Cook is a busted flush and has been for a while. Having said that, now is the time Drew made his move and stepped it up a gear. Was THE next big thing only a few years ago and hasn’t made the jump many expected. Time to deliver.

😂 You’ll see what I mean this morning when the pictures come through from today’s press day. You’ll be hard pressed to tell the difference between this years to last years so just seems a bit daft to me to fork out for brand new kevlars when last years are still ok. Especially when all we hear from riders is the moaning about spiralling costs of riding! I’m still stuck in the past anyway and prefer the old race jackets but that’s another story. I do understand the need for matching team suits though for the professional look.

I noticed that too. Emil had his own Kevlars on but both Emil and Doyle had the new Tru bike livery. You’re right about the kevlars being similar every year under the current sponsor, there’s only so much you can do with a black/Green combo. Just a few small tweaks on the Green placement is about it. They’re not cheap either so makes you wonder if it’s worth some of them even getting a new set if their last season’s ones are still in good nick? None of them would look out of place either way.

Guess that puts to bed any concerns that he wouldn’t return the same rider, or at least would take him a while to get going 😁 Shouldn’t have doubted him really, he’s just ridiculously good and a class act. Iron man!

Time for it to change of course, but forecast for Sunday looks chilly, but thankfully dry.

Don’t expect us to win here either but we have to make a better fist of things around here. Other less strong teams have faired better than us in recent years here so it’s a bit of a head scratcher. Ben Cook was consistently good around here last year I think? Not sure what Zach’s record is like around the NSS but I suspect it’s not quite as good. That and Brennan now being in the Witches side might help us to close the gap but we’ll see. On the flip side, Ben Cook is absolutely terrible around Foxhall but Zach quite the opposite so where the overall Tie is concerned, what Belle Vue might lose around the NSS, they should make up for at Foxhall so that evens itself out really. Expecting it to be tight on aggregate.

What’s your prediction AceBelle? 75-15 to the Aces? 😉

Agree. Quite sad isn’t it? The forum has died a death. Maybe a few more should try and spark it in to life? 😉 Appreciate its off season and there’s no team building or meetings to discuss, but back in the day this forum would still have been pretty active. Sign of the times I guess.