16 April 2010
Posted in
Ipswich Witches
Danny’s early season form
After the euphoria of the opening night 13 point haul, Danny then faced the frustrating task of waiting another 8 days for any further competitive racing in the UK. His next outing came on Good Friday when the Witches played host to the Swindon Robins who were last season’s beaten finalists in the Sky Sports Elite league play-offs. Rain again intervened with the meeting perfectly poised at 25-23 in Ipswich’s favour after eight heats. Danny had notched a second place in his second ride when he followed in Leigh Adams after a disappointing pointless opening ride. The end result was that the meeting scoreline didn’t stand and the contest will be re-staged later in the season.
Thursday 8th April, saw the League Champions Wolverhampton at Foxhall, but this time on KO Cup duty. A hard start in the competition for the Witches and so it proved as Wolves went home with a hard earned 46-43 victory under their belts. It wasn’t the greatest of nights for Danny as three second places were offset by a second ride tapes exclusion and a heat 15 exclusion as the primary cause of the stoppage for bringing down Nicolai Klindt on the first bend. One of those second places amounted to a paid however as Danny partnered Olly Allen to a heat nine 5-1 over Tai Woffinden and Ludvig Lindgren.
The action was by now coming thick and fast for Danny and last Saturday (10th April) saw Ipswich in their first away Elite League action of the season down on the south coast at Eastbourne. Paid seven from four rides was a slight improvement from Danny but still not anywhere near the standards he has set himself for the 2010 season. Two thirds and two seconds meant a least each ride was a scoring one, and a 45-45 draw was a good state to Ipswich’s league campaign and would surely have given them an element of confidence ahead of their daunting trip to Monmore Green to face Wolves in the KO Cup 2nd leg on Monday.
Wolverhampton proved just too much for the Witches on the night and a 55-40 scoreline gave an overall aggregate of 101-83, with the big damage being done in the first leg. Danny had a night to forget as he finished the night on paid six from four rides, although this included a four point tactical ride in heat seven when he followed home Tai Woffinden for a second lace finish. Danny had opened the meeting in heat three with a paid third behind Joe Screen and Olly Allen but that was to be as good as it got with two further pointless rides. It was certainly a case of back to the drawing board ahead of the visit of the Eastbourne Eagles to Foxhall on Thursday 15th April.
All the hard work this week in the workshop paid off last night as Danny scored a morale boosting 14 points in a 49-43 win for the Witches and although Danny finished with a last place in the nominated heat 15 he can be more than pleased with his evening’s contribution to the Ipswich cause. After a much improved evening for the Ipswich Skipper he said;
“It felt great tonight to be honest. I’ve made a few changes to the bike, they worked and it felt really good”.
Despite all the early season problems, Ipswich Witches remain unbeaten in the 2010 Elite League table and travel north to Manchester to take on the Belle Vue Aces in front of the Sky Sports cameras on Monday evening (19th April).
Danny in Poland
This year Danny is riding in the Polish League Division One in the yellow and black of Poznan. On Sunday 28th March, after the previous day’s rained-off home challenge meeting against Ekstraliga side Wroclaw, Danny and his Poznan team mates travelled to top flight side Gorzow for another challenge meeting and put up a very respectable performance to eventually go down 48-42, with Danny leading the Scorpions challenge with nine points from five rides.
Danny started the Polish league season proper on Easter Monday (5th April) at Grudziadz where his side went down to a 50-40 defeat. Kingy had a decent day however and notched nine paid ten from six rides and was only beaten into the top scorer’s position in his team by Australian Ty Proctor who scored 10 from five rides. On reflection after the meeting Danny had this to say;
“It was a good meeting against a good team. I was happy with my bikes and also my new club seems good, a very professional set-up”.
No further action has taken place in the country since the death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his First lady Maria and numerous Polish political officials. The full speedway programme scheduled for Sunday 11th and Sunday 18th April, were consequently cancelled.