Ipswich Witches 2026

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 minute ago, M.D said:

It was a massive issue under Ian Jordan at Eastbourne, I spoke with Chris Louis and he said Jordan was paying Richard Lawson more than he was at Ipswich, not that Jordan paid RL in full at the end..

I sort of understand riders wanting bigger and bigger deals because unfortunately most come into the sport with the mentality of it’s my living and I don’t blame them for that, if anyone is at fault it’s the sport feeding that illusion to them but for me it wasn’t my living it was my dream and I lived it 

[mikebv]

5 hours ago, IainB said:

... a cut back, reduced NDL!

An obvious solution to the UK rider shortage...

Well, it is in keeping with so many other great ideas....

[tyler42]

7 hours ago, BluPanther said:

Many promoters from the 70's onwards made a lot of money from speedway. Very few, if any, put some of that money into the future of their clubs or British speedway in general...

So what did the promotors in the late 90s through till last season do with the tv money? 

[YeOldPitGate]

11 hours ago, tyler42 said:

So what did the promotors in the late 90s through till last season do with the tv money? 

The general impression is the number one's at the time hoovered up most of it and once the trough was empty most decamped to new troughs in Poland.

[mikebv]

11 hours ago, tyler42 said:

So what did the promotors in the late 90s through till last season do with the tv money? 

Gave it to the No1's.....

Who then, almost to a man,Foxtrot Oscared when the Sky deal ended...

[ouch]

21 hours ago, mikebv said:

Not at Dan's level yet!!!

Is what you mean...

Who knows though....

Keep practicing and you never know....

Edit. I've just told my mate that Ouch was taking up Speedway and that he doesn't think he will be as good as Dan..

He said "Who the eff are Ouch and Dan, and what the eff is Speedway?"..

See. Already you are at Dan's level...

Sorry for the late response as I’ve been working on merchandise. Currently available is a rather nice hernia belt and banded pile cream. Know your customers. 
Phil Morris has also made me the speed limiter the sport has for so long been talking about. 
Speedway - Fuelled by Gaviscon. 
 

Follow my adventures on Talking Pictures TV. 

[old bob at herne bay]

been away for a few weeks  .... any nes on Ipswich new owners ??? Any team news ??

 

[kevin bass]

21 minutes ago, old bob at herne bay said:

been away for a few weeks  .... any nes on Ipswich new owners ??? Any team news ??

 

Um no and no, your not missed much, well actually nothing😒

[mikebv]

33 minutes ago, old bob at herne bay said:

been away for a few weeks  .... any nes on Ipswich new owners ??? Any team news ??

 

I believe there may be an update soon Bob...

Telling us that there is going to be an update soon...

[norbold]

Just seen the latest update from Ipswich. 

First Witch

When shall we three meet again

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Second Witch

When the hurlyburly's done,

When the battle's lost and won.

Third Witch

That will be ere the set of sun.

First Witch

Where the place?

Second Witch

Upon Foxhall Heath.

ALL

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:

Hover through the fog and filthy air.

[arnieg]

40 minutes ago, norbold said:

Just seen the latest update from Ipswich. 

First Witch

When shall we three meet again

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Second Witch

When the hurlyburly's done,

When the battle's lost and won.

Third Witch

That will be ere the set of sun.

First Witch

Where the place?

Second Witch

Upon Foxhall Heath.

ALL

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:

Hover through the fog and filthy air.

It's the Birnam Wood Badgers who are the  mystery 6th team isn't it?

[norbold]

8 hours ago, arnieg said:

It's the Birnam Wood Badgers who are the  mystery 6th team isn't it?

I believe so, but only after they've moved to Dunsinane.

[tom]

I fully applaud the introduction of Shakespeare to this topic. Although A Comedy of Errors, his iconic farce, is probably more appropriate.

 

For me it’s not unreasonable that the riders want enough money to make a living. It’s a dangerous job, they could be paralysed at any moment, and there are costs. The basic problem here is NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE GOING TO THE SPEEDWAY. If there were more fans, there would be more money generally, more interest in TV deals, more ability to fend off developers trying to build on the stadiums, more justification for asking for local or national government support.

 

Just more people, through the gates, that’s what is needed. In particular young people, since they are less likely to die and thus more likely to keep coming to the speedway. And maybe even allowing their kids to do speedway.

 

Big name riders ain’t gonna do that if nobody’s heard of them anyway. What speedway basically needs is to hook in whole new categories of people, if necessary for free. The single thing that has allowed me to get my wife into speedway last year has been the matches showing up on YouTube for free.

 

note that this is already happening. Nothing extra needs to be done to facilitate it, but if for example BSN decided to make one full match per week available on YouTube for one week only, for free, consistently, and publicise that, that gets somewhere.

 

the other half of the strategy is an energetic social media campaign to push this free footage to people who haven’t seen it before, using mostly TikTok and instagram. Once a buzz starts, that will wake up monster and other potential sponsors. Potentially it might be worth the clubs giving out bucketloads of free tickets to neighbours and local colleges/universities - because none of those people are going anyway, the clubs would lose no money, but gain some in merch/bar revenues, and a stronger argument when negotiating with the local council next time round. And sponsors and tv revenue.

 

look, it doesn’t matter what form the league takes or how many teams there are. It could be the same opponent every week, it would still be a much better sport than football. If they run out of teams belle vue could hold a Peter craven series, just doing open individual meetings every week. Whatever. All that matters is getting young people to go to the matches, which starts with not taking down the naughty YouTube videos but instead pushing them.

 

The sport itself is good enough that once we get it alight the whole thing will catch. But if we just huddle in the corner waiting for the killing blow to come, then it’s all over sooner or later.

Edited 7 hours ago by tom

[Spidvej]

Before putting this together, I was obviously well aware that the usual suspects — the Richard Coleman fan club from deepest, darkest Bury St. Edmunds and beyond — would be ready with their pom-poms to defend their hero.

Anyway…

While browsing the FIM Speedway website earlier, I noticed a link to the Mayfield Sports Events site and decided to take a look: https://www.mayfield-ms.com

Ignoring the outdated design (it’s mostly text blocks and dated graphics), what instantly stood out was this: there’s no mention whatsoever of Speedway or MotoGP. It’s all about Formula 1.

And even that’s stuck in the past — the site lists Günther Steiner as Haas F1 Team Principal (he left in January 2024) and Otmar Szafnauer as Alpine’s Team Principal (he departed in 2023). 

We’re now in February 2026, which means the Mayfield site hasn’t been updated in at least two years. Odd, isn’t it? Not that the Coleman cheerleaders will see a problem, of course…

Coming from a background in the insurance industry — particularly compliance — I can say this much: the situation with Coleman/Mayfield doesn’t pass the “smell test.”

Back in the day, we’d make sure anyone collecting client money — insurance agents, advisers, financial consultants — was “fit and proper”: no major debts beyond a mortgage, no red flags for embezzlement or mismanagement. When I read posts from “Flagrag” and “DHSS” on the Northampton thread, and then see multiple companies with near-identical names, plus Coleman’s previous court case, it all feels… off. Something doesn’t quite add up.

My prediction (and honestly, I hope I’m wrong): even if Coleman and Mayfield finally complete their long-awaited takeover of Ipswich Speedway, they’ll scrape through 2026 by the skin of their teeth — if they finish the season at all. And when the dust settles? We could potentially be looking at unpaid riders, unpaid suppliers, disappointed sponsors, and a fair few let-down fans, and Coleman trying to run away from unpaid bills and responsibilities!

[Steve Irving]

3 minutes ago, Spidvej said:

Before putting this together, I was obviously well aware that the usual suspects — the Richard Coleman fan club from deepest, darkest Bury St. Edmunds and beyond — would be ready with their pom-poms to defend their hero.

Anyway…

While browsing the FIM Speedway website earlier, I noticed a link to the Mayfield Sports Events site and decided to take a look: https://www.mayfield-ms.com

Ignoring the outdated design (it’s mostly text blocks and dated graphics), what instantly stood out was this: there’s no mention whatsoever of Speedway or MotoGP. It’s all about Formula 1.

And even that’s stuck in the past — the site lists Günther Steiner as Haas F1 Team Principal (he left in January 2024) and Otmar Szafnauer as Alpine’s Team Principal (he departed in 2023). 

We’re now in February 2026, which means the Mayfield site hasn’t been updated in at least two years. Odd, isn’t it? Not that the Coleman cheerleaders will see a problem, of course…

Coming from a background in the insurance industry — particularly compliance — I can say this much: the situation with Coleman/Mayfield doesn’t pass the “smell test.”

Back in the day, we’d make sure anyone collecting client money — insurance agents, advisers, financial consultants — was “fit and proper”: no major debts beyond a mortgage, no red flags for embezzlement or mismanagement. When I read posts from “Flagrag” and “DHSS” on the Northampton thread, and then see multiple companies with near-identical names, plus Coleman’s previous court case, it all feels… off. Something doesn’t quite add up.

My prediction (and honestly, I hope I’m wrong): even if Coleman and Mayfield finally complete their long-awaited takeover of Ipswich Speedway, they’ll scrape through 2026 by the skin of their teeth — if they finish the season at all. And when the dust settles? We could potentially be looking at unpaid riders, unpaid suppliers, disappointed sponsors, and a fair few let-down fans, and Coleman trying to run away from unpaid bills and responsibilities!

You were banging this exact drum a couple of months ago on the GP thread, predicting the end of the GP series under these utter frauds, and that they would be seriously cutting the number of GP’S, if they announced any at all.

A week later they announced, a FULL GP Calendar, as promised. You, then promptly disappeared after being made to look ‘kin stupid.

And here we are, you’re on here again with your broken crystal ball predicting all sorts of doomsday scenarios regarding Mayfield sports. 
 

Despite denials, you clearly have a personal axe to grind. You’re either a rider, a friend of a rider, family member or sponsor, who is unhappy that they’ve cut the riders prize money (sensibly).

Either that, or you’re just completely unhinged and are in need or some serious help.

[Aries]

We’re just going to have to wait and see. Proof of the pudding and all that. They, just like anyone else, deserve to be given a chance.
 

I do find these posts from this particular poster rather suspicious though. Not just the odd comment here and there, it’s literally essays every time criticising them which is a bit weird.

[Hawk127]

9 minutes ago, Aries said:

We’re just going to have to wait and see. Proof of the pudding and all that. They, just like anyone else, deserve to be given a chance.
 

I do find these posts from this particular poster rather suspicious though. Not just the odd comment here and there, it’s literally essays every time criticising them which is a bit weird.

Perhaps they are using Chatgpt or whatever the AI generator for nonsense is.

[89buttons]

Technically we don’t even know the new owners of Ipswich Witches identity as yet, might not even be mayfield 😉

[Teromaafan]

Until the new owners of the club are revealed, Chris Louis owns Ipswich Speedway. He said a while ago that 5 riders were signed, so why can’t these be announced? These signings surely have the new owners blessing? He says he fully understands the frustration of supporters so why can’t at least some of the riders be revealed? He’d have been better off saying nothing. He’s shot himself in the foot in my opinion.

[Aries]

27 minutes ago, Teromaafan said:

Until the new owners of the club are revealed, Chris Louis owns Ipswich Speedway. He said a while ago that 5 riders were signed, so why can’t these be announced? These signings surely have the new owners blessing? He says he fully understands the frustration of supporters so why can’t at least some of the riders be revealed? He’d have been better off saying nothing. He’s shot himself in the foot in my opinion.

He said the new owners are nearing completion of the team, it didn’t sound like he had anything to do with it so it’s probably not his place to be naming them. Whether he’s technically still owner or not, he’s talking like the new owners are already in place and they’re doing all the work to get the club ready to race in “early April”.

We have no idea how these people like to work. They’re clearly not going to be making any announcement on either the club, or rider signings, until the paperwork is officially completed. Which of course is their prerogative.