The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches are back on the road again tomorrow night as they face East Anglian rivals King’s Lynn Stars in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership (7.30pm).

 

Table-topping Ipswich are looking to bounce back from a rare defeat last time out at Leicester where they were beaten 53-37 by the Lions. The Witches are five points clear at the top and with just eight league meetings remaining are keen to secure top spot ahead of the play-offs.

Rider replacement is in operation at number one for the injured Jason Doyle and team manager Ritchie Hawkins has shuffled the riding order for this fixture. Adam Ellis moves to number two with Emil Sayfutdinov switching to number three. Rising Star Dan Thompson returns from injury at number four with captain Danny King at number five.

Ipswich have won on their last five visits to the Adrian Flux Arena, including a super heat victory earlier in the season.

King’s Lynn need a major turnaround in the second half of the season if they are to make the play-offs as they currently sit sixth in the table. The Stars have been beaten twice in five home meetings this season and have just one away win to their name so far.

The hosts have been hit by two injuries ahead of this fixture with Nicolai Klindt and Benjamin Basso on the sidelines. Rider replacement will be in operation at two for Basso whilst Zach Cook guests for Klindt. Lewis Kerr guests at number one in place of Tobiasz Musielak who left the club earlier this month.

Ipswich team manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “It’s a place we go to full of confidence and we always go there looking to win. They have got their injury troubles as we have but we certainly go there focused on getting the win and keeping ourselves in a strong position at the top of the table.

“I’ve mixed the riding order up a bit with using R/R for Jason, I feel it balances it out better to attack the King’s Lynn team. Danny is very good at King’s Lynn and so is Adam, so we have three strong heat leaders there. If the other boys can chip in with a few as well then, we are going to be very strong on the night.

“We are unsure of who will be in the King’s Lynn team but like every week we focus on ourselves. I’m sure they will come up with the best they can do, but with everybody riding bar Birmingham, and Birmingham having their own injury problems, there is not a massive rider pool to get guests from. They certainly won’t want to lose to us again though.”

KING’S LYNN: 1. Lewis Kerr (G) 6.16 2. R/R for Benjamin Basso 6.73 3. Jan Kvěch 6.00 4. Niels Kristian Iversen 6.27 © 5. Zach Cook (G) 6.59 6. Patryk Wojdylo 5.44 7. Anders Rowe (RS). Team Manager: Rob Lyon

IPSWICH: 1. R/R for Jason Doyle 9.36 2. Adam Ellis 6.07 3. Emil Sayfutdinov 9.15 4. Dan Thompson 4.84 (RS) 5. Danny King 7.72 © 6. Keynan Rew 4.52 7. Jordan Jenkins 3.66. Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins

Referee: A. Steele