It has been a very promising week for the Witches after a disappointing Good Friday afternoon at Foxhall against the Lakeside Hammers.

Anyone who had seen the meeting on that cold afternoon at Foxhall Heath would not have dared to predict a convincing Witches victory at Purfleet in the evening for the traditional Good Friday double header, but the riders who had left the large crowd feeling as blue as their toes were managed to raise themselves and put on a performance which is a springboard to what could be an exciting season. In the meeting at the East of England Showground, Ipswich ran the Panthers close, taking the meeting into a last heat decider, given the performances last season, who would have thought that the team would be so competitive away from home. The confidence all around the Foxhall club is very high and hopefully the results will reflect this.

The week had the potential to be a disaster, losing at home to Lakeside in the first competitive fixture of the season could have deleted all the positive energy that had been built up during the winter months. Instead the team showed that they are going to be no push over this season, they could have gone to Purfleet with their tails between their legs feeling sorry for themselves, but instead the team produced some magic and presented a fantastic result from their cauldron. Add to the mix the narrow defeat at away at Peterborough and you have a team that are sending a message to the rest of the league.

Before I am shot down for getting ahead of myself, lets realise that it is early on in the season and the league is yet to start, plus there are still improvements for the team to make. No one wins anything on the first week of the season, it is a time where all the riders are still settling back into racing after the winter break and set ups are still being worked on. All the teams will have a lot more to offer than the we have seen so far in the Craven Shied competition.

But again lets look at the positives, Tobi Kronner is back to firing on all cylinders, with a paid maximum against the Panthers at Foxhall on Thursday. Robert Miskowiak is showing signs that he is getting over his illness and scored well against at Foxhall this week and hopefully it will be a confidence booster to the number 1and we will see him back to his last seasons best.

We have found a star in Piotr Swiderski, he has been flying around all tracks and scoring heavily, and is one of the reasons why there is so much confidence around the club at the moment. If he keeps up his early season form then we are going to be very strong throughout the whole team.

Momentum is an important thing to have in sport, momentum gives you confidence, it also makes opponents wary of meeting you. Getting into the habit of winning is half the battle, its that extra edge when it comes to the tight meetings where only a few points separate the teams. That why this early season form DOES have a massive impact come the start of the Elite League, but a good start to the season doesn’t mean you are going to win the league.

One talking point already this season this the decision to get rid of the aggregate bonus point which has been replaced by the awarding of three points for away victory’s. It will be interesting to see how this works out, meetings will lose their interest as teams that are losing heavily have no incentive to carry on battling to the end. The incentive of the extra bonus point always gave an interesting finish even to the meetings that were one sided as a point was still at stake. It certainly would have had an effect on our Craven Shield group as we would be on six points instead of just the five as Ipswich have outscored both their opponents in the competition.

So its onward and upwards for the Witches this season and lets hope that they can spring a surprise and earn a place in the play-offs, from what we have seen this week, they can push teams very close.
 

NB: Isaac is not officially connected to the Promotion at Ipswich Speedway and therefore his views are entirely independent of the Promotion.