Ipswich Witches 2026

[mikebv]

10 minutes ago, SPEEDY69 said:

I don't remember it as a weak league year at all.  Give them some credit, they rode really well as a team to win.

For several weeks that season, Sam Masters had the No1 average in both leagues at the same time..

[SPEEDY69]

19 minutes ago, mikebv said:

For several weeks that season, Sam Masters had the No1 average in both leagues at the same time..

Your Aces team had Bewley and Kurtz, Brennan, both Worralls and Charles Wright I think - the play off final at the NSS and seeing Scott beat Bewley was great if you weren't an Aces fan 😁

[TTT]

Mayfield have done well to get PHB in, Didn't see that one coming as I assumed he was nailed on for Belle Vue earlier in the winter. Didn't think he was coming over after they announced Kildemand.

Think PHB will be better on the road but will give it 100% whilst providing bundles of entertainment for the fans and that's all we can ask for.

I would've signed Brennan, Lawson and Musielak anyway for the Top 5 after Doyley and Emil's departures, I think that's a rock solid Top 3 in a weakend League where Brennan and Musielak have huge scope to improve, Rocket Man will do what he always does and that's score consistently well where he'll roughly finish on the same GSA.

I'm glad Nicholls is in the side after he revealed that 2026 is likely to be his retirment year, It's only fitting that he finishes his career off at Ipswich imo.

King is King, Should be good for a minimum of 7 Points a night at Foxhall, Away from Home is a different story but we can't win the League in 2026 anyway so it's irrelevant.

Overall I'm relatively happy with the 1-7 considering the circumstances and I only would've swapped King for Klindt.

 

Roll on to tapes up.

[89buttons]

38 minutes ago, TTT said:

Mayfield have done well to get PHB in, Didn't see that one coming as I assumed he was nailed on for Belle Vue earlier in the winter. Didn't think he was coming over after they announced Kildemand.

Think PHB will be better on the road but will give it 100% whilst providing bundles of entertainment for the fans and that's all we can ask for.

 

The signing of PHB has really cheered me up, it was always going to be hard so late in the day to bring over a top no.1 but in the absence of that bringing in an exciting newcomer to the league from the continent is a good show of intent from the new owners and offers additional excitement and intrigue to see how he fairs on these shores

[Hamish McRaker]

Museilak must be due for a testimonial soon? And Scott could be too, even though he's probably already had at least one? What about Danny King?

[Fortythirtyeight]

1 hour ago, TTT said:

Mayfield have done well to get PHB in, Didn't see that one coming as I assumed he was nailed on for Belle Vue earlier in the winter. Didn't think he was coming over after they announced Kildemand.

Think PHB will be better on the road but will give it 100% whilst providing bundles of entertainment for the fans and that's all we can ask for.

I would've signed Brennan, Lawson and Musielak anyway for the Top 5 after Doyley and Emil's departures, I think that's a rock solid Top 3 in a weakend League where Brennan and Musielak have huge scope to improve, Rocket Man will do what he always does and that's score consistently well where he'll roughly finish on the same GSA.

I'm glad Nicholls is in the side after he revealed that 2026 is likely to be his retirment year, It's only fitting that he finishes his career off at Ipswich imo.

King is King, Should be good for a minimum of 7 Points a night at Foxhall, Away from Home is a different story but we can't win the League in 2026 anyway so it's irrelevant.

Overall I'm relatively happy with the 1-7 considering the circumstances and I only would've swapped King for Klindt.

 

Roll on to tapes up.

King costs half of what gating tart Klindt demands.

[Aries]

35 minutes ago, 89buttons said:

The signing of PHB has really cheered me up, it was always going to be hard so late in the day to bring over a top no.1 but in the absence of that bringing in an exciting newcomer to the league from the continent is a good show of intent from the new owners and offers additional excitement and intrigue to see how he fairs on these shores

Totally agree and I felt the same when we signed Rew. We should look to do one of these every year in my opinion because it freshens things up and gives us a look at a new rider. With all due respect to the others, we know exactly what they can do and how they ride because we’ve all watched them a million times. PHB gives us that intrigue and something different.

[Aries]

2 minutes ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

King costs half of what gating tart Klindt demands.

And for a very similar output. King actually has the higher average.

[foreverblue]

8 minutes ago, Aries said:

And for a very similar output. King actually has the higher average.

Rather have King anyday, he would not give up like Klindt does.

[Steve Irving]

5 hours ago, Aries said:

Looks like King remains as Captain. The “Club Officials” page has been updated today

https://ipswichwitches.co/club/staff/

So do they have a new presenter currently or not? That role is hugely underrated IMO and can go a long way towards the meeting experience. The few times I went there last year, I thought the fella presenting was excellent and one of the best I’d heard. Shame if he’s given it up/been ousted.

[1 valve]

19 hours ago, IainB said:

Why are you limiting yourself to Monday and Thursday? 14 teams of 5, 6 or 7 riders any night that works for the club. 

And before you come back with where are the riders, I've already quoted some 130 odd that competed in the 2025 season. 

But as the powers that be have decided to cut back on the NDL and even fill those teams with the likes of Simon Lambert and Jake Mulford instead of really developing the youth, I fear that the opportunity may have been missed, 2026 was the season to merge, who's still competing at the end of '26 is anybody's guess. The sport is only heading in one direction currently and that is very sad. 

I was focusing on one league made up of quality riders including those who would  ride in GP's and/or Poland.
so riders of a NDL standard and current lower second strings championship would be uncompetitive. 
Thus, as you well know, Mondays and Thursday would be the only days available for teams to field "top riders".
I totally agree that one league could be made up excluding riders who ride in Gp's  and or Poland as well as  are of Scandinavian nationality and instead have teams including NDL & lower second string championship riders.

But frankly, such low quality, and teams of 4, 5 or six riders is not the answer as a way to develop the sport. 
 

[1 valve]

20 hours ago, Tapewrecker said:

Premiership and championship combined meaning all teams. You cannot run a league with 6 clubs and keep the fans interested. No wonder crowds are low, the whole thing is getting very boring.

Fair to say that the math of combining current teams doesn't lead to many more team than the current five of the top flight - well, eight to be precise. Then the number of quality available riders run out. Remember the  two current leagues exist at the moment because a good number of riders ride for two clubs in the two different leagues which would disappear if there was to be only one league. 

[mikebv]

30 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

I was focusing on one league made up of quality riders including those who would  ride in GP's and/or Poland.
so riders of a NDL standard and current lower second strings championship would be uncompetitive. 
Thus, as you well know, Mondays and Thursday would be the only days available for teams to field "top riders".
I totally agree that one league could be made up excluding riders who ride in Gp's  and or Poland as well as  are of Scandinavian nationality and instead have teams including NDL & lower second string championship riders.

But frankly, such low quality, and teams of 4, 5 or six riders is not the answer as a way to develop the sport. 
 

Running the sport in a way that removes pretty much all authenticity of both leagues is an even worse answer to develop the sport...

[FAST GATER]

2 hours ago, TTT said:

'm glad Nicholls is in the side after he revealed that 2026 is likely to be his retirment year, It's only fitting that he finishes his career off at Ipswich imo.

IMO  how well he scores and if he can stay injury free will detemine whether  this is his last season  !

[ouch]

2 hours ago, SPEEDY69 said:

Your Aces team had Bewley and Kurtz, Brennan, both Worralls and Charles Wright I think - the play off final at the NSS and seeing Scott beat Bewley was great if you weren't an Aces fan 😁

No Brady due to our famous Play Off injury jinx. The Worralls took four of his play off rides with Jye Etheridge taking one. Ouch!

[IainB]

54 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

I was focusing on one league made up of quality riders including those who would  ride in GP's and/or Poland.
so riders of a NDL standard and current lower second strings championship would be uncompetitive. 
Thus, as you well know, Mondays and Thursday would be the only days available for teams to field "top riders".
I totally agree that one league could be made up excluding riders who ride in Gp's  and or Poland as well as  are of Scandinavian nationality and instead have teams including NDL & lower second string championship riders.

But frankly, such low quality, and teams of 4, 5 or six riders is not the answer as a way to develop the sport. 
 

Business as usual then?

We can't afford the top riders while Poland are paying what they are, not without a TV deal and a very good tv deal at that.

And how you can say that not having a NDL standard riders in a single league is not the way to develop the sport I can't fathom 🤷‍♂️

There are still riders looking to ride over here, Ippo's signing of PHB this year and Lynn bringing in Kvech a few years back shows this and there are other new faces in the CL this year. 

[Dave_minall]

10 hours ago, Aries said:

 

For a team who are competing in the top league in the UK, this image is very poor. I'd have thought now Mayfield are in charge they'd have a decent graphic designer at hand but clearly not 😂

[Dave_minall]

10 hours ago, Aries said:

 

For a team who are competing in the top league in the UK, this image is very poor. I'd have thought now Mayfield are in charge they'd have a decent graphic designer at hand but clearly not 😂

[TTT]

2 hours ago, 89buttons said:

The signing of PHB has really cheered me up, it was always going to be hard so late in the day to bring over a top no.1 but in the absence of that bringing in an exciting newcomer to the league from the continent is a good show of intent from the new owners and offers additional excitement and intrigue to see how he fairs on these shores

Same here, May not be a World Class GP Rider @ No.1 but it's still a statement signing by Mayfield imo and it shows the pulling power they have.

Most of us have be worried about the No.6 position and they've managed to pull out a top young rider with a bright future ahead of him.

Every fan base in the League would've been happy to see him in their 1-7 imo.

[TTT]

2 hours ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

King costs half of what gating tart Klindt demands.

Understandable imo.

King doesn't exactly go well at most tracks away from Foxhall where's Klindt can score points everywhere bar Sheffield imo.