A BETTER track and a better outcome will be the Evening Star Witches hopes tonight, as they travel to the Midlands to race Wolverhampton.With the return at Foxhall on Thursday, Ipswich will be looking to pick up at least three points from these two clashes with Wolves, so it will be important there no excuses tonight.

By Mike Bacon

A BETTER track and a better outcome will be the Evening Star Witches hopes tonight, as they travel to the Midlands to race Wolverhampton.

With the return at Foxhall on Thursday, Ipswich will be looking to pick up at least three points from these two clashes with Wolves, so it will be important there no excuses tonight.

Chris Louis trailed in last on three occasions at Peterborough on Thursday where the Witches were thrashed. Neither he nor Mark Loram won a heat, while Robert Miskowiak was another not to score a point.

While the track was inexcusable at Peterborough, that is not likely to be the situation tonight and the Witches, who have now slipped out of the play-off positions will need to show a bit more resilience and resistance on the tight Monmore Green bowl, than they did on the big East of England Showground.

Wolverhampton, after losing their opening home challenge match of the season against Poole, have remained unbeaten.

On Bank Holiday Monday they dispatched Reading Bulldogs by three points and their current lowly league position is down more to matches raced than anything else.

Ipswich, however, have a recently good record at Monmore Green and were responsible for knocking Wolves out of the Cup last season in a meeting that saw Piotr Protasiewicz score a maximum.

The Witches show no changes to the team that was mauled by the Panthers with Carl Wilkinson, after a gutsy performance at the East of England Showground, continuing in the number seven berth.

Meanwhile skipper Louis sees promotion and relegation as the answer to British speedway's ills.

The 36-year-old is riding in the Polish League for the first time since 2001 - when he sustained a serious head injury riding at Czestochowa.

And he says that British speedway has much to learn from the eastern European country

Now with Lublin in the First Division, Louis said: “Effectively I am riding in the Polish Second Division, but there are crowds of around 10,000.

“It is tough, and the riders are very talented.

It is not as strong as the Extraleague, but it is still a lot closer than the Premier League is to the Elite League in Britain.

“And one of the main reasons for the interest is that promotion and relegation take place.

“We played at it in England a few years ago, but to do it correctly it needs a lot more thought.

“It could easily be done, and it would give our speedway a huge boost.”

Tonight's teams

Wolverhampton: 1 Peter Karlsson, 2 Magnus Karlsson, 3 Ronnie Correy, 4 Fredrik Lindgren, 5 Billy Hamill, 6 William Lawson, 7 Christian Hefenbrock

Ipswich: 1 Chris Louis, 2 Kim Jansson, 3 Robert Miskowiak, 4 Piotr Proastiewicz, 5 Mark Loram, 6 Jan Jaros, 7 Carl Wilkinson.