Ipswich Witches director of speedway Chris Louis says he has never doubted the ability of Aussie youngster Cameron Heeps.

Heeps, 21, who hails from Perth on the west coast of Australia, is an Ipswich asset, signed by Louis on Heeps’ 16th birthday.

After four years with the Witches, Heeps moved to Rye House last season.

But he is back with the Witches this year, top scoring in Bank Holiday Monday’s defeat at Peterborough, with 11 points, after picking up the man-of-the-meeting award with a paid 14 at Foxhall against the Panthers on Saturday.

“I have never, ever, doubted Cam’s ability,” Louis said.

“Even as a 15-year-old racing at Mildenhall when we couldn’t sign him because he was too young, I could see his qualities.

“He’s had a few issues, especially the wrist injury he suffered for two years. But he is a natural talent and he must make the most of that.”

Louis and the Witches head to Redcar tonight in another Championship clash.

Again they will be without Kyle Newman, although the Dorset-based racer is set to be back in just a couple of weeks.

The Witches only lost by two points at Peterborough without him and Louis feels the rest of the league are likely to already be sitting up and taking notice of the Foxhall side.

“We are nowhere near our best yet,” Louis said.

“The rest of the league will be looking at us and wondering how good we can get when Kyle returns.”

Redcar are the visitors to Foxhall on Saturday night as the Witches face the north-east club twice in 72 hours.

The Bears got their Championship campaign underway on Monday with an away win at Scunthorpe. It’s a venue that the Witches have fared well on in recent times.

Team boss Ritchie Hawkins says the Witches head north full of confidence: “We go there in good spirits and there is massive improvement in us and if we ride like we did at Peterborough then we can get a result there.

“They’ve got an exciting line-up with Ben Barker and Jason Garrity leading the way and you can look at their team and know you’re going to get a good hard meeting.

“We will have to be on top of our game, this league is very strong and every meeting we need to be there fighting but we are looking to win at home and away this season.”

Teams: Redcar: J Garrity, C Garcia, C Wright, J Andersen, B Barker, R Hall, E Perks.

Ipswich: D King, J Sarjeant, N Covatti, C Heeps, R Schlein, C Mountain, D Hume.

Championship Table

Team Pl Pts

Glasgow 4 10

Edinburgh 3 9

Peterborough 4 9

Ipswich 4 7

Sheffield 4 6

Workington 2 6

Scunthorpe 7 4

Newcastle 2 3

Redcar 1 3

Berwick 5 0

Last five Witches results at Redcar:

09.09.16 W53-37

28.05.15 W46-44

22.05.14 W50-40

04.07.13 L45-47

05.07.12 W47-43