Aries

By his own admission Doolan had a poor year last year by his standards. He finished superbly though so hopefully he'll pick up where he left off.

Agreed, and also speaks volumes for those that have "liked" the post.

Whilst i don't think the rider in question would be overly impressed, i don't think it matters a great deal regarding his on track performances. As Jim Bowen used to say on Bullseye, its pounds for points.

Is that the current Australian U21 champion?

Evidence that the track widening was money well spent. I was hoping one of the clips was of Matt Tressarieu battling past the two visiting riders, stuffing up the next corner and letting them by again, before winding it on and re-passing them a second time

I've no idea i'm just trusting the comments of our promoter who seems to think he's already a club asset. Barring injury, 4H and 4A isn't going to be a problem anyway is it.

Thankfully we got their first to sign him up as a full Ipswich asset and i hope that he's part of our EL team in the not too distant future. But yes, in the short term i can certainly see a scramble of EL clubs to sign him up once he attains a PL average as he certainly looks a better bet than some of the ropey reserves already signed.

I can't see Leicester anywhere near the top 6. The side looks woeful to me with 4 reserves in it. If even one of the top 3 have an off night then you'll get some right royal hidings next season.

North was the best visiting rider all season he was incredible for Somerset. Hope it's him

I think you're probably right. Speaking of Tres, delighted if he's confirmed. Seemed to score better away than at home and was good for double figures at a lot of tracks. Always handy to have a good traveller in the team. And of course very entertaining with it.

6.94 I'd take North over Eklof. In fact i'd take North over all those you've mentioned except Morris under normal circumstances. Perhaps that stunning performance by Dakota North at Foxhall earlier in the season with that paid 21 point maximum is still fresh in my memory!

Josh Grajczonek would fit if Dakota North signed instead of Risager. I'll admit given the circumstances that it would be a big surprise if Risager didn't sign, but who knows maybe we're all wrong on that. Just seen on another thread that Dakota North's new club will be revealed on Tuesday, and our full line up is being revealed by middle of next week......

I hope they've assembled the best seven riders they possibly could, regardless of where they were born.

Correct Jules.

We should have a better idea or narrow the list of potential signing's down by the end of the week as a few clubs are announcing riders over the next few days. Somerset announcing 3 tomorrow so maybe we can cross Masters off the list. Bit of a dangerous game if the promotion decide to wait until mid January to see if a certain rider is available or not.

From his comments, it seems the ambition is to rebuild and move back up better equipped. They lost money two seasons ago because the fans gave up which to be fair you would expect with the way the season went. If they can't put a competitive Elite league side together then they won't move up its as simple as that. Both Kings Lynn and Birmingham it seems have made a success of their move up a league so it can be done. The chapmans are sound businessmen and we are led to believe they had an option to drop back to the Premier league which they've obviously decided not to take. Indeed, Buster has admitted they had a much better financial year than they anticipated. I think it's clear Chris Louis sees Ipswich as a top flight club and the ambition is to ultimately put it back there. In the short term though, I'm going to make more of an effort to get to more meetings next season if finances allow. The signing of these two young lads is a positive step in the right direction and I'm looking forward to watching them race. I've a feeling the promotion are on to plan B for the rest of the side though.

Could be a fly in the ointment there. The BSPA site has Tungate's 5.00 average as "awaiting official confirmation". On the face of it, seems a terrific signing though whatever the average and i particularly liked this comment from Chris Louis in Thursday's Evening Star “I did say that dropping down to the Premier League was a chance for us to rebuild the club. “I think the captures of Cam and Rohan signify that is what we are doing. “Ipswich Speedway has a long-standing tradition of being at the top of the sport in this country. “And as much as I enjoy the Premier League, I don’t want us to become a conveyor belt of talent for other Elite League tracks.” A pretty big hint there that our stay in the Premier league isn't a long term one.

I liked the comments from Chris Louis in the Star last week that as the winter unfolds the fans would get to see that the club wanted to sign up more assets. If the lad Tungate signs up i assume he would be one of them? Or is he on another clubs retained list?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motogp/14565269.stm

Can't believe they would name a rider(s) for the Elite League mate without any points limit or rules being set. Got to admit i will be mightly peed off if you move up after we've just come down!! I was gutted about dropping a League but the thought of having the derbies again was the only thing stopping me from slashing my wrists!!

But aren't Lynn releasing team news at the end of this week? That can only be for the Premier League.

A full house from Tobi i see he's finishing the season in good form. He's had a fantastic season and proved an awful lot of people wrong who labelled him a "no hoper" at the start of the season. He's a terrific lad as well and always pushing himself to improve all the time. At the end of meetings at Foxhall he's always back out on the track testing and trying to find a better formula right up until the curfew while others are packed up and long gone. Delighted with him and the sooner he puts pen to paper on his Ipswich contract for next season the happier us Suffolk folk will be.

So Jarek Hampel does indeed sit out then. Welcome back to Foxhall Jarek

From a selfish point of view i hope Hampel doesn't get the wild card as that may well be the deciding factor in him coming back to foxhall. He may well be on a more attractive average than the re-assessed average for GP riders too. With him already agreeing a new deal in Sweden and obviously remaining in the Ekstraliga, inclusion in the GP series would almost certainly see him give Britain the swerve again.

Its not always about what clubs want though is it Badge? Ipswich didn't want to let Scott go to Coventry but he went because he wanted to. Now i'm not saying Scott wants to leave Coventry as i have no idea what his intentions are, but it certainly wouldn't be the biggest shock in the world to see him riding elsewhere and it wouldn't be a great shock to me at least, to see him as Ipswich number 1. He did say a few weeks ago "not likely" about an Ipswich return, but things change.