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The first ever Speedway
meeting in this county took place in
Ipswich
at
Portman Road, now the home of the Ipswich Town Football Club.
The present stadium at Foxhall Heath was purpose built for
speedway in 1950 and meetings were held there from 1951 to 1965
when the track was concreted over for stockcar racing.
Attendances approached 20,000 people and made stars of riders
such as Syd Clarke, Junior Bainbridge, Tich Read and Peter
Moore. In 1969 John Berry built a new smaller track inside of
the old one and re-opened the club with a team which was to
include the current promoter John Louis.
Speedway
has been held at Foxhall continuously since then up to the
present day. Stars of the club during the 70's and 80's include
Billy Sanders, Tony Davey, Dennis Sigalos, John Cook and Jeremy
Doncaster. In 1998
Ipswich
tracked what was probably the worlds most successful ever team
winning the Elite League, the Knockout Cup and the Craven
Shield. In addition
Ipswich
riders won the World Championship (Tony Rickardsson), the
British Championship (Chris Louis) and the British Under 21
Championship (Scott Nicholls). The team also included the Polish
Superstar Tomasz Gollob who was third in the Word Championships,
and to this day the name Gollob still brings many happy memories
back for the fans.
Since 1998 the Witches
have struggled to
recapture those
wonderful times. They
dropped to mid table in
1999 but recovered to
finish third in 2000.
The Witches then slumped
and in 2003 endured
their worst ever season
in the top flight of
British Speedway,
finishing last out of
eight teams in the
SKYBET Elite League.
2004 saw better times
return and the return to
the track of Ipswich
legend Chris Louis, who
had sat out the 2003
season with injury. The
signing of Hans
Andersen, coupled with
the return of Louis
meant that the Witches
had an enviable heat
leader trio of Nicholls,
Andersen and Louis. The
Witches enjoyed their
best season since those
heady days of 1998,
securing a play-off spot
and a place in the KOC
final. Sadly the Witches
were eliminated from the
Play-offs in what become
one of the classic
speedway meetings,
drawing 45-45 away at
Wolves in the
semi-finals, losing out
in a run-off. This match
has been hailed as a
classic, shown to a live
TV audience on SKYSPORTS.
Just a few days later
they were defeated over
two legs in the KOC
final, ending the season
trophy less.
2005 & 2006 brought no
further trophies to the
Witches. The return of
Mark Loram in 2006,
after a near 20 year
absence, provided
thrilling entertainment
as fans were
re-introduced to his
classic all action style
on a weekly basis. Loram
became the first rider
to sign up for 2007 and
coupled with the promise
shown by Robert
Miskowiak and the
capture of Marcin
Rempala, Witches fans
will be hopeful of the
capture of some form of
silverware, their first
since 1998.
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