Roger Jacobs

The beauty of Redcar's victory is that they did it without being able to resort to the artificial joker Even in the days of the good old tactical substitute, I always felt that a home team should not be allowed to resort to such changes. All credit to the Bears - a backs-to-the-wall victory.

Hooray for artificial joker points Awful, detestable rule. Speedway is supposedly a sport, not It's A Knockout. Only if you can find someone who can score 5 points a meeting ...

The programme is a fixed cost, which needs to be recovered. That's not an excuse, it's a simple business statement. Apart from varying levels of sponsorship, British Speedway relies almost entirely on cash flow. Tonight's rain-off will have cost a comparatively large amount of money versus no significant income. Again, not an excuse - just simple business facts. Sorry if these concepts are difficult to grasp (or at least acknowledge).

Nope Beautiful clear evening now - the moon shining brightly. I genuinely thought the match would be on, but as mentioned above in the quote by David Howe, the ref decided to call it off.

David Howe has posted on Twitter, re the conversation with the ref (Mick Bates): "I said it was up to him, me and Leigh both agreed it would have been difficult but was the refs choice not ours."

http://www.lovespeedway24.co.uk/teams/ipswich-witches/witches_clash_with_scunthorpe_called_off_1_2024352 Not a nice thing to say about your own skipper! From what I saw, that wouldn't be difficult . PS: Sorry Rob .

Edited to delete all the guff. Montie - I only saw one Scunthorpe fan there, and apparently he was Rob Peasley - so is that you?

Bright sunshine, lovely rainbow No puddles on track, but it took a 10 min shower. It's off ... Just announced.

Pouring at the stadium, but it will pass ...

Gone dark very suddenly, and just heard the first thunder ... Hopefully it will pass over with a suitable watering of the track, and Bob will have enough time to complete his prep

And you've never acknowledged the fact that despite yuor admiration of Magda Zimny-Louis, there's little doubt that her continuing influence was the driver behind the over-reliance on Polish riders - at the expense (sic) of arguably better riders. In fact, she is very similar to that of Maggie Thatcher - a strong-minded woman, who did exactly what she thought was right, but her legacy was that of a downward trend. The weather is still set fair. Some clouds over Ipswich, but it's so windy they will zoom across. Showers possible, but given that the topsoil of a field at Martlesham has been blown across the village and the A12 today, the track at Foxhall must be bone dry, and Trackman Bob probably wouldn't mind some natural watering.

Some photos from Ipswich v Somerset here: http://ipswichwitche...gallery#g_619_0 (including angles of Davies crash).

aka: Helmut Hayfever Also: Vladimir Kalina Dawid Stachyra (a controversial choice for some, but was of no value to the EL - and has again proved it at Poole, where their fans are calling for him to be booted out). Weather looking over Foxhall towards Ispwich: bright, with approx five tenths cloud. Extremely windy! Currently a "sandstorm" of topsoil blowing off the fields across houses on Martlesham Heath and the A12. Forecast showers, but I can't imagine it will be off unless there's heavy rain later.

Witches best score at EWR is 37 (not counting artifical joker increases), so it's not easy to be optimistic. Hopefully a good victory at Foxhall will set them up for a better performance away, with Barker a better #1 than in previous visits, and Ellis has ridden there before (a rarity for him). Tungate & Heeps (sounds like a detective duo) are in decent form - so the focus will be on Risager & Lanham to deliver a few points more than they have before, and Makinen to deliver anything.

Apologies (one p) to Redcar for clogging up your thread but, given the recent fuss about Philpott, the use of arson fire is in the most extremely poor taste (and I've always thought that, but the murderer just proves it). It's not a clever play on words, it's an illegal and dangerous act. That's unfair. Jenga was trolled.

T'would be good to say hello. I'll be loitering by the turnstiles, so you're welcome to tap me on the shoulder. I'm told we will be graced by the presence of Mr Snackette, and the Special One may well be there too. I'll accept payments either from you or from them to not reveal their identities . Of course, Her Majesty Crazy Sue, the Queen of Live Updates is also a Foxhall regular, so is another personality you can add to your autograph album. PS: Just checked last year's PL match - suddenly remembered why I had forgotten it: the Sackers Witches three "heat leader" scores were Lanham 2, Doolan 0, North 4 (+2 artifical joker points) - eight last places between them.

From the Ipswich Website: "As part of getting the fans behind the riders this year we would like encourage the comeback of banners on the terraces. So if you used to bring a banner with either the team name or your favourite rider on it then dig it out and bring it along. If not then please design one and help us cover the terracing with banners to help cheer the Witches on! There will be a prize at the May Bank Holiday meeting for the best banner and also one at the end of the season. So make it big & bold and give us a 'W'!" Expected line-ups: Sackers Witches: Barker, Makinen, Tungate, Risager, Lanham, Ellis, Heeps Henderson Insurance Scorpions: Auty, Howe, Palm Toft, Birks, Jorgensen, Bates, Douglas The Palm Toft / Birks partnership could be a fascinating to watch, because they both chose somewhat erratic racing lines in their appearances at Foxhall last season, and may even collide as they weave down the back straight. No idea about Auty - he might be good or he might fall off. Howe rides Ipswich very well, as does the ever-smiling Jorgensen. Bates and Douglas will be making their competitive debuts - as too we hope (third time lucky) will Makinen . Although I always remember them as the Saints or Stags - it's worth noting that Scunthorpe are the only team in the UK whose name contains an epithet which BSF members (particularly followers of Ipswich) apply to Aljack/Jackal . Witches to win.

Illegal and dangerous are two words to associate with Arson Fire.

My reply was to the comment that changes are made in other sports, and the fact it is more difficult in speedway simply because there aren't squads, reserve teams, etc. and also, genuinely, finances. I know it's stating the obvious, but it's true. In a previous post I did make it clear that I think Sedgmen would be a good replacement. I have also said that I think Stefan Nielsen would have been a better bet in the starting line-up, i.e. even before we saw Makinen ride. Maybe Makinen would be more suited to Leicester, where his sponsors are, and they need to replace the clearly out of his depth Simon Nielsen.

Where in the above is DW having a go at the track - all he has done is made a factual statement that Glasgow have too many riders who can't ride the track, or have never been there. The only implied criticism is of the Tigers themselves.

That applies to every promoter, at every track. Well said.

But this is British speedway, where just about every type of resource is limited.

Duplicated post edited.

Not on the pace. He had one scoring ride on Thursday when he beat Tom Perry, but in his next one Perry passed him with ease. Sadly, we've heard that Makinen has had a major family issue which can't have helped - so it's a difficult one for Chris Louis: do you give the rider the chance to ride through it, or tell him to take a break (knowing he will be playing even more catch-up when he returns), or tell him he's out ... A difficult decision for any employer. PS: I the cold light of day, a move for Sedgmen seems a very good option - he told me just before he decided to go home in 2011 that he would love to ride for Ipswich. Of course, the Aussie seems to have his own 'history', but if he's happy somewhere he could be very good.

Ellis rode at the SBA in the Under-21 qualifier - so he has got more experience there than a virtually any other circuit Plymouth preview here: http://plymouthdevils.co/article-3.html Pete Simmons tweeted recently that they had reached Bristol and it's dry.