Ipswich Witches vs Oxford Spires Thursday 7th August

[Aries]

11 hours ago, SPEEDY69 said:

I see the usual suspects are trolling on here about the track. 

Given the expectation of a one sided affair it turned out to be a decent meeting, was a decent crowd in too, I wonder if bsn covered the second half, I didn't stay for that. 

Plenty of grip out there and Oxford (Janowski apart) gave a decent effort. Lawson always puts up a good fight and his race with Ellis was good to watch (note there was no pass but there doesn't have to be for a good race). I was impressed with Killeens win. McDiarmid improved each race and his battle with Killeen was a little hairy but he didn't back off - I was hoping for him to get the point. Kildemand was unlucky to fall with Brennan, the gap was  there. Ellis looked much better for Ipswich and Thompson is back on form at the right time. 

 

“It wasn’t our best performance of the year, far from it, and it felt a bit of a slog at times, but we were experimenting with track conditions and overall, it didn’t work. We were battling with that and Oxford came and fought hard, and they will be happy with the two young lads, Luke and Mitch, I thought they put in really creditable performances and that is pleasing for them. It was one of those nights where we had to battle but we got another three points on the board, and we move on and come back for a tougher test next week.

“We have had a few different conditions at Ipswich, and we are just trying to find out what is best for everyone and what everyone is happy with. It is a good time to do it but overall, it wasn’t brilliant and didn’t provide great racing and that is one thing we want to do. We will learn from it and have another crack at it next week and see if we can get the balance to get everything correct.

Fair assessment from Hawkins there. 

[GeneralMelchett]

3 hours ago, 89buttons said:

Could you kindly put forward a big bag or two of cash to purchase the stadium from the owners then the stock car promotion, and a few more bags of cash to completely alter the stadium with a bigger stock car track and bigger speedway track more suitable? 
 

don’t necessarily disagree with the points about the suitability of the track shape but you make it sound like negligence on the Ipswich promotions part that they’re not moving with the times and making the track much bigger with zero grasp of a realistic solution.

louis has altered the track banking and shape 4-5 times over the past few years doing his best to try and improve the racing within the confines of the stock car track and while it’s still quite one dimensional when prepared well there’s opportunity to go deeper and find grip to pass last night it was pretty poorly prepared…again

stabdinng just on the exit of second bend have watched riders hitting a hole/bump mid turn 1/2 all season, can’t understand how it’s not been dealt with, frustrating for the riders and frustrating to watch week in week out, that hole was what Doyle was out on track complaining about and highlighting to Hawkins in the grade break.

It caught Dolyley out a few weeks ago one heat we was leading very comfortably - hit that bit and his lead almost vanished!

[GeneralMelchett]

2 hours ago, Roger Jacobs said:

You're looking at the solution from the wrong angle.  Most tracks cannot ever be changed.  It's the machinery that needs to be reined-back - last night provided another example of how these super-tuned bikes can't deal with deep and/or patchy shale. Take the edge off their power, so they don't lurch or pick up dramatically at the slightest hint of a change in surface.

Interested to hear Emil say on the track walk that the straights are very short at Foxhall - the track has been chnaged a fair bit over the years since i first went there in 1988.

[Baldyman]

Interesting to read experimenting with track conditions,,,, so what was the experiment, more dirt? Less dirt? Really wet? Really dry? Loads of dirt on inside? 

 

Or is experimenting another term for,, ballsed it up

[SPEEDY69]

50 minutes ago, Baldyman said:

Interesting to read experimenting with track conditions,,,, so what was the experiment, more dirt? Less dirt? Really wet? Really dry? Loads of dirt on inside? 

 

Or is experimenting another term for,, ballsed it up

I think there was more dirt on the outside and rather than balls it up I think it made it more entertaining to watch - it wasn't simply the flat out diamond shape the riders are used to on slicker tracks.  All the riders (not including Janowski who performed at NDL level) appeared to be able to handle it - Charles Wright was a little erratic in his first ride and Doyle/King got caught out but it made them think about it more.  If McDiarmid can stay injury free he may go places.  I didn't watch the TV stream but of course I expect they'd talk about track as that's par for the course.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

Good to see Tungate has recovered from his injuries that ruled him out of oxford’s meeting at Ipswich last night and is riding for rybnik tonight, ban him  

[Racin Jason 72]

12 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Good to see Tungate has recovered from his injuries that ruled him out of oxford’s meeting at Ipswich last night and is riding for rybnik tonight, ban him  

What a surprise.   I agree. Ban him for the rest of the season. 

[Youhave2minutes]

20 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Good to see Tungate has recovered from his injuries that ruled him out of oxford’s meeting at Ipswich last night and is riding for rybnik tonight, ban him  

Another piss take on British Speedway. This type of activity jars me off.

[Tom Thumb]

On 8/7/2025 at 7:42 PM, Tom Thumb said:

#prayforRohan 🙏

The power of God should not be underestimated.