Ipswich Witches 2026

[DBP]

1 hour ago, Phannan said:

Would the witches accept Kurtz if he promised to try every meeting? 🙄

Where would that leave the Aces if he ended up at Ipswich or Northampton 

[YeOldPitGate]

2 hours ago, Aries said:

Every track in the top flight will take a hit on the attendances they’ve had previously I think that’s a given. It’ll be interesting to see how much of a hit though. The one team that I can see getting away with it to a degree, is Lynn. They now have the top rider in the league which they haven’t had for an awful long time, and the two young lads at reserve should pique their interest.

The league set up will please nobody though and it’s been an incredibly damaging winter that has left a bad taste in the mouth that’s for sure.

Theres always been a decent hardcore at Lynn even when I started going in 84 we were truly awful until Bill Barker took over and brought in the dream team that also flopped .From possibly 84-87 we were woeful but the crowds held up pretty well. When Barker and Simmo took over and we looked powerhouse, opening match there must have been 4-5k turn up.

I also remember when Poole turned up one bank hol Monday with Holder and Ward and Buster said it was the best crowd since the mid 70's which again proved run on the right days for the punters with half attractive teams and they will come.

Edited yesterday at 07:37 PM by YeOldPitGate

[Son of Shaleman]

20 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Theres always been a decent hardcore at Lynn even when I started going in 84 we were truly awful until Bill Barker took over and brought in the dream team that also flopped .From possibly 84-87 we were woeful but the crowds held up pretty well. When Barker and Simmo took over and we looked powerhouse, opening match there must have been 4-5k turn up.

I also remember when Poole turned up one bank hol Monday with Holder and Ward and Buster said it was the best crowd since the mid 70's which again proved run on the right days for the punters with half attractive teams and they will come.

Lynn looked to have a decent hard core support for NDT last year. Some local lads with Scott ,Harrison and Rushen entertained by and large. Caught people’s imagination. 

[YeOldPitGate]

1 hour ago, Son of Shaleman said:

Lynn looked to have a decent hard core support for NDT last year. Some local lads with Scott ,Harrison and Rushen entertained by and large. Caught people’s imagination. 

Lynn fans always enjoy their speedway also helps that the three lads named should be core England lads in 5-7 years so long as they avoid big smashes and aren't expected to jump to high to soon and have confidence smashed as we have seen with many English decent young prospects over the years.

[noaksey]

6 hours ago, TTT said:

It's an interesting one because Becker hasn't been name dropped for Northampton.

If we had Brennan, Becker, King and Rew for example then it only leaves 10.38 meaning no room for a No.1 as the No.6 has to be a minimum 3.00.

If they can't find a new no 1 then this looks as good as they can do

[TTT]

5 hours ago, Phannan said:

Would the witches accept Kurtz if he promised to try every meeting? 🙄

I wouldn't because I think his GSA would drop quite a bit if Foxhall was his home track.

Don't think he'd be up for the challenge of getting to grips with Foxhall when he'll have bigger priorities in the back of his mind like hunting down Zmarzlik in the GP's again.

[ouch]

18 hours ago, TTT said:

100% agree, Fricke's a good signing but his GSA is inflated due to him take an R/R Ride in Heat 8's alot last year.

Where's Lambert's is only that low because he's only shown up for the Play-Offs in recent seasons, Can easily put a 0.75-1.00 point on a 8.00 Assessed GSA imo.

Robert’s attained an average of 7.81 at the end of the 2019 season. He signed for Belle Vue on an assessed average in 2022 due to the gap in league racing. He was given the 2.5% British reduction, bring him down to 7.61. 

In 2023 he signed for Kings Lynn on an assessed average but he didn’t get his 2.5% reduction this time. 

As an assessed rider without a current average he didn’t ride 4H & 4A so his average remains as assessed using the old 2019 figure of 7.81.

However…..

His average could be anything as come the play offs in 2023 he was suddenly deemed to not be an assessed rider and his 2019 figure was “current”. If they follow through with this thinking then they will need to role his average using the 2H & 4A from his Kings Lynn meetings.

I don’t see this happening as the only reason he suddenly became not assessed was when Damian Bates of Sheffield speedway contacted Damian Bates of the BSPL board to ask for permission to use Robert Lambert. Damian gave Damian permission to do so, winning Sheffield the league title. Coincidentally, the year before Damian had asked Damian if the rules could be applied differently to help Sheffield win the league. Earlier in the season Peterborough had signed a replacement outside of the transfer window. It was allowed due to injury. When Belle Vue attempted to apply the same rule in the same way, Damian spoke to Damian and overturned the rulebook. Fortunately for the good of the sport a judgement was made from outside the sport and the correct use of the rulebook was forced through, much to the delight of all fair minded speedway fans and BSF members. 

[Byker Biker]

3 hours ago, ouch said:

Robert’s attained an average of 7.81 at the end of the 2019 season. He signed for Belle Vue on an assessed average in 2022 due to the gap in league racing. He was given the 2.5% British reduction, bring him down to 7.61. 

In 2023 he signed for Kings Lynn on an assessed average but he didn’t get his 2.5% reduction this time. 

As an assessed rider without a current average he didn’t ride 4H & 4A so his average remains as assessed using the old 2019 figure of 7.81.

However…..

His average could be anything as come the play offs in 2023 he was suddenly deemed to not be an assessed rider and his 2019 figure was “current”. If they follow through with this thinking then they will need to role his average using the 2H & 4A from his Kings Lynn meetings.

I don’t see this happening as the only reason he suddenly became not assessed was when Damian Bates of Sheffield speedway contacted Damian Bates of the BSPL board to ask for permission to use Robert Lambert. Damian gave Damian permission to do so, winning Sheffield the league title. Coincidentally, the year before Damian had asked Damian if the rules could be applied differently to help Sheffield win the league. Earlier in the season Peterborough had signed a replacement outside of the transfer window. It was allowed due to injury. When Belle Vue attempted to apply the same rule in the same way, Damian spoke to Damian and overturned the rulebook. Fortunately for the good of the sport a judgement was made from outside the sport and the correct use of the rulebook was forced through, much to the delight of all fair minded speedway fans and BSF members. 

An excellent summary of how it works

[Aries]

New air fence is needed so that’s 20k plus for the new owner right off the bat. Apparently the current air fence shouldn’t have been used last year!

[Youhave2minutes]

3 minutes ago, Aries said:

New air fence is needed so that’s 20k plus for the new owner right off the bat. Apparently the current air fence shouldn’t have been used last year!

That’s scuppered that then.

[SPEEDY69]

4 minutes ago, Aries said:

New air fence is needed so that’s 20k plus for the new owner right off the bat. Apparently the current air fence shouldn’t have been used last year!

Why, appeared to be nothing wrong with it? 

[Aries]

9 minutes ago, SPEEDY69 said:

Why, appeared to be nothing wrong with it? 

Wasn’t “legal”, mainly due to height allegedly. 
 

Oh, and we could be looking at another couple of weeks yet. No joke.

A well regarded poster on here was down at the track yesterday removing an air conditioning unit as they’re due to get a brand new VIP box. Pushed for a few answers, and although they stopped short of naming them, said new prospective owners were a “sports entertainment company”.

Think we all know who that is.

[edmon]

2 minutes ago, Aries said:

Wasn’t “legal”, mainly due to height allegedly. 
 

 

As I believe were fences at two other Premiership tracks (which were reported to the SCB - with no action being taken)

[Aries]

Just now, edmon said:

As I believe were fences at two other Premiership tracks (which were reported to the SCB - with no action being taken)

I don’t think anyone was deliberately trying to mislead anyone or “get away” with anything, appears to have been a genuine oversight so I have to make that clear.

Bottom line is a new one is definitely needed for the new season and it’ll put a dent in the new owners wallet right from the get go.

[Hawk127]

10 minutes ago, Aries said:

Wasn’t “legal”, mainly due to height allegedly. 
 

Oh, and we could be looking at another couple of weeks yet. No joke.

A well regarded poster on here was down at the track yesterday removing an air conditioning unit as they’re due to get a brand new VIP box. Pushed for a few answers, and although they stopped short of naming them, said new prospective owners were a “sports entertainment company”.

Think we all know who that is.

Not WWE by any chance. That would liven up proceedings.

[YeOldPitGate]

14 minutes ago, Aries said:

I don’t think anyone was deliberately trying to mislead anyone or “get away” with anything, appears to have been a genuine oversight so I have to make that clear.

Bottom line is a new one is definitely needed for the new season and it’ll put a dent in the new owners wallet right from the get go.

Or knock it off the asking price.

[Youhave2minutes]

13 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Or knock it off the asking price.

Use Klarna and pay in 3 instalments with no added interest 

[Steve Irving]

1 hour ago, Aries said:

Oh, and we could be looking at another couple of weeks yet. No joke.

😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴

[Aries]

7 minutes ago, Steve Irving said:

😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴

I’m with you.

As I said before, any other winter and we’d be out and they’d have cracked on without us. The reality is they need us and have no choice but to wait for us.

Its been an absolute car crash of a winter.

[Ray Stadia]

28 minutes ago, Aries said:

I’m with you.

As I said before, any other winter and we’d be out and they’d have cracked on without us. The reality is they need us and have no choice but to wait for us.

Its been an absolute car crash of a winter.

Speedway has been a car crash forever, but for the last 10 years, it's been a multiple car crash!