History
Foxhall Stadium was purpose-built for speedway in 1950, and meetings were held there from 1951 to 1965 when the track was resurfaced for stock car 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 the stock car circuit and re-opened the club with a team which would soon include the current promoter John Louis. Speedway has been staged at Foxhall continuously since then.
In 1970 and 1971 the Witches won the British League Division II Knock-Out Cup, before John Berry took the decision to apply for membership of Division I in 1972. The Witches went on to become a dominant force in the top flight of British Speedway, winning the Division I Championship in 1975, 1976 and 1984, plus numerous Knock-Out Cup wins (doing "the double" in '76 and '84).
Following the tragic death of Billy Sanders in 1985 and Berry's subsequent decision to quit, the club struggled and almost closed - before being saved by a consortium, including returning local-hero John Louis. The new Witches began life in the National League (second tier) in 1989 and 1990, before joining the amalgamated British League and then, after a further restructuring of speedway in Britain, the Elite League.
In 1998 Ipswich won the Elite League Championship, the Knock-Out Cup and the end of season Craven Shield tournament. In addition, Ipswich riders won the World Championship (Tony Rickardsson), the British Speedway Championship (Chris Louis) and the British Under-21 Championship (Scott Nicholls). The team also included the Polish star Tomasz Gollob who finished third in the World Championship.
In November 2010, the Witches decided to swap memberships with the Birmingham Brummies, moving to the Premier League (With the Brummies therefore moving to the Elite League).
In 2011, the "Sackers" Witches (sponsored by Sackers Recycling) enjoyed a successful first season in British speedway's second tier, achieving 3rd place in the final Premier League (PL) table and winning the PL Four Team Tournament Championship.
During the winter, Director of Speedway Chris Louis moved to bring in new assets to the club, in the shape of Australians Rohan Tungate (b. 1991) & Cameron Heeps (b. 1996). In the first meeting of the 2012 season, a challenge match with Rye House at Foxhall heath, both Taylor Poole (broken left arm) and Morten Risager (damaged lower vertebrae) were ruled out - and Ipswich asset Leigh Lanham re-joined the club as a replacement for the unfortunate Risager (who missed two months of the 2011 season after sustaining an injury to his right hand).
Read more about this topic: Ipswich Witches
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