Steve Irving

They’d be neither “tapping up” or “poaching” Dan Bewley. Dan Bewley is not currently Belle Vue’s rider. He’s a free agent and can negotiate with whomever he likes, and Chris Louis can do likewise. Mark Lemon can enter negotiations with Tom Brennan if he wishes, or Jason Doyle, or any 2025 Ipswich witches rider come to that. He’d be doing absolutely nothing wrong. No tapping up or poaching needed.

Don’t let anyone on here tell you ever again that winning the title is “worthless” and “means nothing”. Of course it means something to a lot of people, and not just the fans. He probably won’t go anywhere, but he SHOULD IMO. Mike makes some great points. He’s not adding strings to his bow by pinning the throttle and riding the boards at the NSS every week. He seems to have only one way of riding and does the same in the GP’S. Again Mike is correct, he’s been passed multiple times on the inside because of his lack of track craft. He would improve as a rider tenfold by riding Ipswich every week or a track similar. One where he’d simply HAVE to adapt and learn to ride different lines if he wanted to pile in the points and earn good money. No time for patting yourself on the back and dwelling on your success. Thoughts should, and would, already be fixed on next year. Ipswich now have a couple of riders on averages they shouldn’t really touch. King started on an attractive figure because of his wrist issues last year which saw his performances dive. He’s had a good steady year which has seen that average rise and now has an average that Ipswich shouldn’t go near if they want to be successful. Surely now is the perfect time for him to bow out at Ipswich on a high note after lifting the title as captain? Unfortunately, you can say the same about Dan Thompson. Started on a ridiculously low figure due to a 25% reduction, has piled in the points at reserve, but has struggled a little when moving in to the main body. Now on a 6+ average, he wouldn’t be at reserve next year. Still young of course, but I’m not sure I’d have him in the main body of the side on that figure. Certainly doesn’t scream “bargain”.

Well done Tigers Lad 👍🏻

Totally agree. Same with Leicester too though. If they manage to pull this off from here then in my opinion it’ll be an incredible achievement even bigger than Sheffield pulling back an 18 point deficit a couple of years ago. The downpour and conditions made it a farce and without question affected the outcome of that final. Ipswich hadn’t lost by more than 18 in the two previous league meetings there that year under normal conditions. But with the weather not a factor here, if Leicester manage to win at Foxhall by six or more then it’ll go down as one of the greatest achievements in Speedway. I personally can’t see it and I think it’s going to take an Ipswich heatleader to crash out of the meeting in their first ride or something similar, for Leicester to prevail. They’re going to need a helping hand and although It’s not likely, these things CAN happen. It’s speedway after all.

Oh I agree and Emil conceded that himself. Just saying he was unfortunate because although he caught a bit of unseen grip, Douglas had almost ground to a halt in front of him which gave Emil nowhere to go but in to him. He was unlucky.

Tbf to Leicester, it’s not likely to be a great atmosphere when it’s the away team doing all the overtaking.

Firstly they ARE walking the league. They pi$$ed the semi final and they’ll pi$$ the final. Secondly, no not everyone DOES get injuries. Some are more fortunate than others. It’s pretty unfortunate to lose not just one, but your TWO most important riders at the exact same time isn’t it? Ipswich lost the biggest weapon in the entire league when Thompson got injured. At reserve, he was scoring heatleader points on a regular basis. And Doyle had started the season very well after almost a year out, until he dislocated his hip and hasn’t been the same rider since.

We were robbed of more box office action there! I’ve no doubt Emil would have hunted down those in front of him the way he was going. May not have caught Fricke this time, but would have certainly put him under pressure as he was far quicker all night. Emil was a bit unfortunate actually. Douglas locked up in front of him and made it difficult for Emil to avoid him.

Or simply beaten by a better side? Ipswich have a stronger team than Leicester, it’s pretty simple really.

Really? They won by 8 at your place earlier on in the season! In fact they were beating just about everybody until they lost Doyle and Thompson in the space of a few days which punctured the Ipswich tyres. Neither Doyle nor Thompson have actually been the same since those injuries either. Thompson was going like a train and riding like a seasoned heat leader until he broke his wrist. Hasn’t hit those heights since and neither has Doyle. That could have provided an opportunity for others, but the strength of the side means they still looks like comfortably coming out on top.

Surprised at Hawkins going for Doyle over Brennan in 15. Tom took a while to get his set up right but once he did, he was absolutely rapid in his final two rides.

He was, but the gulf between the siblings was just as big was the point I was making. Kelvin was far better than Neville, just like Dan is far better than Joe.

The devil is always in the detail. They finished level on points with Ipswich but I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t have been the case had Ipswich not had a midseason wobble when they went without their two most important riders at the time at 1 and 6 (Doyle and Thompson). They lost a fair few meetings in their absence that I’m sure they wouldn’t have done otherwise. They were racking up cricket scores early doors until the injury curse struck again.

Dan Thompson and Joe Thompson see Danny King and Jason King, or Kelvin Tatum and Neville Tatum.

😉 All very predictable. The only chance I could see anyone having a sniff was if Ipswich again ran in to injury problems. At full strength, they’re comfortably the best side in the league simple as that. Great top two, excellent third heatleader in Brennan, and a potent reserve in Thompson. Far too strong.

Unfortunately this website doesn’t allow you to upload any photo with any kind of clarity. You have to compress the hell out of the original photo before it allows you to upload. I’ve tried myself in the past but eventually gave up.

😂😂😂

Ipswich 1/2 Leicester 6/4 Bet365.

Used to love Ipswich coming to visit. The battles between Kenny and Sigalos and Billy Sanders live long in the memory. Great times.

Having read the preview for the Sheffield Ipswich meeting, it was blatantly obvious that little effort was going to be made from an Ipswich perspective. “Should put on a show for the paying public” etc etc, but Ipswich have far bigger fish to fry and the reality is it’s natural to hold back and not risk injury with a grand final less than a fortnight away. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Ipswich riders were on some sort of staggered guarantee for that meeting, helped by the sponsor. From the managers comments, they certainly had little interest in exerting themselves.

Speak for yourself. Come on Tiger’s lad and you Witches.

Don't be so bloody thin skinned. Some of the criticism has been justified. The track for instance has been publicly criticised by your own damn riders for christ sake.

Of course it’s meaningless, how can anyone say Thursdays Meeting isn’t meaningless with a straight face! It would have had something riding on it (semi final opponents) had the fixture been fulfilled pre-cut off, but unfortunately it was postponed and the fixture has to be fulfilled. Reading the previews for this meeting, it comes across as a meeting that nobody particularly wants. Whatever your definition of “meaningless” is, is irrelevant anyway to the point being made which was comparing an absence to a fixture with absolutely nothing riding on it, to an important club fixture where a place in a grand final is at stake.

Not sure why you keep banging on about this because you’re comparing apples with oranges! If Kurtz couldn’t be @rsed in a completely meaningless fixture like the Sheffield Ipswich one on Thursday, then nobody would have batted an eyelid. But it wasn’t a meaningless fixture he couldn’t be @rsed in was it? It was his team’s play off semi final!

But we’re constantly told by some on here that winning the title is “worthless”, “meaningless”, “nobody cares” 🙄