The Evening Star Ipswich Witches are back in action on Thursday 31st July after the recent run of away fixtures. Their opponents at Foxhall Stadium will be the Lakeside Hammers in a meeting sponsored by Anglian Willhire.

The two sides have already met four times this season, with the Witches losing their first competitive match of the campaign against the Hammers in a Craven Shield fixture back in March. That defeat was fought out in high winds and at times snow on a changeable Good Friday afternoon, with the final score ending 43-47. The Witches then rose from the depths later that evening when they went to the Purfleet raceway and recorded a remarkable 52-40 victory, giving themselves the edge over their rivals in the Craven Shield group stage. Sadly results went against Ipswich after that turnaround, and it would be the Hammers that made it to the later stages of the competition.

Since then the sides have met twice in the Sky Sports Elite League, both times at Lakeside. The ‘A’ fixture in early May ended in a 42-51 defeat, with Edward Kennett appearing as a guest in the Witches first match since Chris Louis’s arm injury. The last encounter was on the 25th July, when Lakeside won the ‘B’ fixture 55-38, with Davy Watt guesting for the absent Jarek Hampel. Hampel should be fit to resume his place in the Witches line up on Thursday night.

Lakeside have been one of the few sides this season who have been able to consistently field the same starting line up each week. This week they come to Foxhall naming the same side that appeared back in March. There have been injuries, and riders such as Joonas Kylmakorpi have had a stint at reserve, but the side has remained the same. Andreas Jonsson, Adam Shields and Joonas Kylmakorpi are the heat leaders at 1,3 and 5 respectively and each did damage in the Hammers victory at Foxhall last time out. Swedish Grand Prix star Jonsson scored 11+1, while Shields made use of his guest booking experience at Foxhall to score 10. Kylmakorpi’s 7+2 was also valuable.

The heat leaders have also enjoyed high scores against Ipswich at their own track. Sheilds recorded a paid max of 14+1 on July 25th, while Jonsson has scored in double figures on each of the Witches three visits. Kylmakorpi has returned to form in recent weeks, but only managed a score of 2+1 on Good Friday and was at reserve for the Witches following visit in May.

Also in the side are Swedish international Jonas Davidson and former Witch Leigh Lanham. Davidson recorded 6 points on his last visit to Foxhall with the Hammers in March, while Lanham recorded a valuable 5+2 riding in the number 2 position.

At reserve are Lubos Tomicek and Ricky Kling. Czech international Tomicek appeared in two GP’s earlier this season thanks to his 4th place finish in the 2007 GP qualifiers. This earned him a reserve berth for the series and he replaced the injured Bjarne Pedersen. He managed 5+1 at Foxhall back on Good Friday, while his partner at reserve Kling managed 3+1. Both outscored their rivals at reserve that afternoon and made a valuable contribution to Lakeside’s victory.

With summer now underway the weather on Thursday evening should be very different to that experience back on Good Friday, and with Lakeside proving to be a big rival in the race to the playoff places, this should be a hugely entertaining meeting. The Witches know that the Hammers can beat them on their own track, and they will need the fans to get behind them to make sure that lightening doesn’t strike twice. At this stage in the season a home victory is another massive step towards the playoffs, and the riders will be going all out to make sure that their title challenge stays on track.