Ipswich Witches team boss Ritchie Hawkins says Kyle Newman is ‘hoping to be involved’ with the side in the next couple of weeks.

The Dorset-based racer damaged his shoulder during his opening race of the season at Poole in the Darcy Ward Invitational three weeks ago, and although scans proved the injury not to be as bad as first feared, it is still taking Newman time to get race fit.

He was back at Foxhall on Thursday night, chatting to the fans.

“It was good of Kyle to come up and it’s a long journey up for him from Dorset.

“You get bored sitting around when you’re injured. He’s missed all the season so far but I hope he still feels part of the team and we are trying to keep him involved.

“His progress is going really well and he is hoping to be involved in the next couple of weeks.

“James Sarjeant is with us for 28 days and that runs out after the Newcastle clash in a couple of weeks, so we’ll have to assess Kyle’s fitness then.”

The Witches travel to Peterborough tomorrow hoping to double the Panthers after their fine win on Saturday.

“It was a good performance and everyone is happy,” Hawkins said.

“It was a tricky night but we dealt with it really well and professionally but we’ve got to go and do the business on Monday.”

Hawkins was delighted with the performance of Danyon Hume at reserve who scored 11 and believes the team still have more to give.

“Danyon has done a lot of laps around here now and that was his best score and he looked at ease on a tricky night. He was mature beyond his years. The team has done well and the good thing about it is there is a lot of improvement left in us and you can see that in areas we can improve.”

It was another big crowd at Foxhall and Hawkins is hoping it continues through the season as the Witches look to bring home some silverware in 2017.

“We always have a big Easter up here and everyone appreciates meeting the riders, getting free posters and the Easter eggs,” he said.

“Hopefully everyone is going to keep coming back and supporting us and we can all celebrate a successful season together. It’s about everyone - the riders, the staff and the fans, it’s about everybody and we want to go on the long journey together.”

Meanwhile Peterborough boss Carl Johnson admitted his side were well beaten at Foxhall.

“We were on a roll, but tonight we came crashing back down to earth,” he said.

“We knew it would probably happen at some point, but we certainly didn’t expect to be on the receiving end of a scoreline like this.

“It shows how quickly things can change in this sport. A couple of riders who have been flying so far this season have been caught up in nasty crashes.

The Witches travel to Peterborough tomorrow hoping to double the Panthers after their fine win on Saturday.

The Panthers have been hit by injuries in the past few days and will be without Kenneth Hansen once again on Monday due to illness. Rider Replacement will be in operation at number five. Paul Starke also picked up an injury at Foxhall on Saturday and is not fit to take his place in the side. Sheffield’s Lasse Bjerre will guest at number three.

Team Manager Ritchie Hawkins says his side need to take their home form into away meetings starting at Peterborough.

“We have got two away meetings now and we have got to go into them looking for wins,” said Hawkins. “They will be out for revenge and it will be a real tough day. We are very confident at home and everyone is having a great time but we need to take that on the road with us.”

Teams: Peterborough Jack Holder 7.16, Simon Lambert 5.25, Lasse Bjerre (g) 6.64, Ulrich Ostergaard (c) 7.14, R/R, Bradley Wilson-Dean 5.02, Tom Bacon 2.00

Ipswich: Danny King (c) 9.57, James Sarjeant 5.66, Nico Covatti 7.49, Cameron Heeps 5.07, Rory Schlein 7.17, Danyon Hume 2.00, Connor Mountain 2.00.