British Premiership Speedway
Foxhall Stadium, Ipswich
Admission: £20.00
Programme: £3.00
I try to get to watch the Ipswich Witches once a season, and it is what I based my short break in Suffolk around this year. But in the days leading up to tonight's fixture, prospects for an uninterrupted meeting were not promising, with intermittent rain forecast. Happily, no rain materialised, but it turned out that rain would be of trivial concern for what would be announced an hour before the meeting took place.
Shortly after parking up and walking around the car park, I received the notification on my phone, at 18.30, that Queen Elizabeth II had very sadly passed away. Earlier in the day, it had been announced that doctors had placed her under medical supervision, and her close family hastily made their way to be by her side in Balmoral. But it was still a devastating surprise that the Queen's passing occurred quite so soon, and with spectators loitering outside the turnstiles, club officials were waiting from official guidance from the British Speedway Promoters Association that the fixture could go ahead, before confirmation came through that it could and the doors were opened. It turned out to be a very sombre evening. Plenty of respect was shown throughout the evening - flags were flown at half mask, both teams wore black armbands, the track announcer Kevin Long gave a very moving tribute to the crowd before an immaculately observed two minute silence, followed by the national anthem. There was no rider presentation, nor music played, save for the standard short clips before and after heats, and Long did not partake in his usual joviality and trying to engage the crowd. A strange, quiet and sad feeling prevailed throughout the meeting, and in all honesty, the racing in almost all of the heats was rather processional, with little exciting action taking place.
Surprisingly, for me at least, considering they did not make the play-offs last season and started this season with four defeats from four League Cup fixtures, Ipswich Witches have had a really excellent regular league season. They came into this fixture top of the table, having won eight and lost one of their home fixtures, and won five and lost four of their away fixtures. Although they only had tonight's fixture and a final regular season fixture away at Sheffield to come, they are far from certain to top the final regular season standings, as second placed Belle Vue have a meeting in hand (five points behind the Witches), and Sheffield two (seven points behind). It is looking like the Sheffield against Ipswich fixture later in the month will be the meeting to decide who will top the final standings, going into the play-offs. Peterborough Panthers have had a fall from grace this season, having won the regular standings in 2021 and then the Play-Offs Grand Final. They came into this fixture bottom of the table by quite a distance, having won three and lost six of their home meetings, and lost all nine of their away fixtures so far. In the meetings between the two clubs so far this season, Peterborough won both home and away in the League Cup fixtures, whilst in the League, Peterborough won their first home fixture, in late June, before Ipswich won at Foxhall three days later, while on Monday, the scoreline was tied at 45-45, before a super heat went in the Witches' favour.
When the meeting got going, the first head suggested that this could be a rather one sided fixture, with Ipswich sealing a 5-1 win. But Peterborough responded in kind in the second heat. Ipswich then claimed another 5-1 in the third, after which the scoring settled down somewhat, and as the meeting progressed, the Witches stayed ahead but the Panthers remained with striking distance, never falling more than eight points behind, after the tenth heat, but 5-1 heat wins for Peterborough in the eleventh and then the penultimate heat ensure that, somehow, the final heat would be the decider, to ensure some excitement which was in short supply throughout the meeting. The Witches were two points ahead, , but claimed a 3-3 tie to ensure the win, and to keep their hopes of topping the final regular season standings, and thereby racing against the club finishing fourth in the two legged semi-final.
And after a rather sombre, almost eerie feel to proceedings this evening, I drove away feeling that this could be my last sports action for a little while - and indeed, this was confirmed on Friday, when the FA announced that all football fixtures at all levels would be postponed from Friday to Sunday inclusive, scuppering my hopes of calling in at May & Baker's home tie at Aveley's Parkside on my way home on Friday evening, as well as Charlton's home game against Exeter on the Saturday.
Above results taken from East Anglian Daily Times website
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