IPSWICH Evening Star Witches will be without Robert Miskowiak at Eastbourne on Saturday.

IPSWICH Evening Star Witches will be without Robert Miskowiak at Eastbourne on Saturday, writes Mike Bacon.

The young Pole is riding for Leszno, his Polish club, in a re-arranged clash and they have told him he has to race. Mark Loram also rides for Leszno, but not being Polish, he can put his British commitments first.

It is bad news for the Witches because there is no facility for Miskowiak allowed in the circumstance and Ipswich will have to track a junior in his place.

“Robert has a re-arranged Polish fixture for his Polish club Leszno. Mark Loram also rides for them, but has told them he has a British fixture,” Witches team manager Mike Smillie explained.

“Robert has tried to get out of the clash in Poland, but he has been told in no uncertain terms he will ride for Leszno - being Polish he basically has no choice.”

With Daniel King, Carl Wilkinson and Steve Boxall also unavailable for the trip to Arlington on Saturday, the Witches will have a strange look about them, with Redcar's Daniel Giffard riding at No.7. Smillie is still working on finding a rider to replace Miskowiak, but it will be a Premier League man, up to an average of six points.

After the Eastbourne clash the new Witches averages will come into force on June 1, with Piotr Protasiewicz and Chris Louis expected to swap places in the Ipswich line-up.

“Pepe is likely to start riding at No.1, with Mark (Loram) staying at No.5,” Smillie added.

“We haven't decided on that yet and much could still happen in the Wolves and Eastbourne meetings. But that is the way it appears at the moment.”

The Evening Star Witches have begun their season in relatively sound form but many Ipswich fans are probably wondering whether their cup is half full or half empty in regard of their club's start to the campaign.

Smillie however is fairly content with the way the Witches are progressing.

“It is a very tight league this season,” he said.

“We lost at Peterborough on Thursday by 17 points and it dropped us three points down the table on race difference. The bonus points are going to be so vital.

“It is a pity we lost at home to Reading, but apart from that, we have done okay and there is a long way to go.”

Meanwhile the Evening Star Witches' Sky Bet Elite League clash at Wolverhampton was called off at 2.15pm yesterday after a day of heavy rain in the Midlands.

The decision was all rather inevitable with the forecast for rain continuing until 6pm at Monmore Green.

Wolves promoter Chris Van Straaten commented: “I have had to take the decision due to the fact that we have had continuous rain with no respite.

“With that rain carrying on into the afternoon and no break in the weather, this would have given us no opportunity to carry out the necessary work to get the meeting on.”

No new date has been confirmed for the fixture at this stage.

It means the Witches are next in action on Thursday night at home to Wolves.