FOLLOWING two rain offs in two weeks the Ipswich ‘Sackers’ Witches can’t wait to get back on track and this week they face local rivals the Rye House ‘Silverski’ Rockets twice in three days, both are League Cup fixtures.
FOLLOWING two rain offs in two weeks the Ipswich ‘Sackers’ Witches can’t wait to get back on track and this week they face local rivals the Rye House ‘Silverski’ Rockets twice in three days, both are League Cup fixtures.
The Rockets have also suffered the same fate with their last two meetings so are equally keen to get racing again.
Both sides were forced into early team changes following their Anglian Cup encounter on the opening night of the season at Foxhall, which will long be remembered for the numerous stoppages and number of riders taken to hospital.
This resulted in long term layoffs for three of the riders involved and Rye House have signed Danish Star Charlie Gjedde at number one as a replacement for injured skipper Chris Neath with Luke Bowen taking over the Rockets captaincy. Originally signed by Rye House as temporary cover for Tyson Nelson who is experiencing visa delays down under, Leigh Lanham was then recalled by parent club Ipswich as a replacement for the injured Morten Risager.
Swede Anders Mellgren has recently joined the Rye House line-up to fill the gap while Rockets heatleader Jordan Frampton is the only rider injured that night to be back racing after breaking his scaphoid.
Rye House have yet to complete a home fixture in the League Cup but Thursday will see them complete their last away fixture in this competition.
So far they have only accrued three points and are sitting at the bottom of the Southern group but Ipswich will not be under-estimating the men from Hoddesdon. The Witches only just clinched the Anglian Cup by a two-point margin after two closely fought meetings in March and the Rockets will be out for revenge whilst also looking to increase their League Cup points tally in the process.
Ipswich team manager, Pete Simmons, is looking for his team to pick up points from both meetings “We need to improve on our Anglian Cup second leg performance as with Somerset winning away twice and Leicester picking up a point down at Plymouth recently we must make sure we pick up points in all our remaining away League Cup matches to ensure we finish in that all important top two of the Southern league section. A big three points tonight and something from Saturday will mean we should maintain that momentum”.
Thursday night also sees the first Anglian Junior League action at Foxhall when the AJL Ipswich Witches take on the AJL Rye House Pocket Rockets. The four-man six-heat meeting will take place immediately after the main meeting has finished.
Ipswich ‘Sackers’ Witches
1. Leigh Lanham 7.53, 2. R/R, 3. Kevin Doolan � 7.19, 4. Dakota North 5.83, 5. Mathieu Tresarrieu 6.87, 6. Cameron Heeps 3.00, 7. Rohan Tungate 5.00
Team Manager: Pete Simmons
Rye House ‘Silverski’ Rockets
1. Charlie Gjedde 8.88, 2. Ritchie Hawkins 5.16, 3. Anders Mellgren 5.40, 4. Luke Bowen � 4.97, 5. Jordan Frampton 7.71, 6. Jason Garrity 4.00, 7. Jason Bunyan 4.74
Team manager: John Sampford
AJL Ipswich Witches
1. Martin Knuckley, 2. Joe Graver, 3. Niall Strudwick, 4. Sam Woods
Team Manager: Pete Simmons
AJL Rye House Pocket Rockets
1, Tom Braddock, 2. Danno Verge, 3. Connor Dwyer, 4. Rhys Naylor
Team manager: John Sampford
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