1950s Foxhall Stadium was purpose-built for speedway in 1950 and following the cancellation of a meeting on 24 March 1951, the venue first hosted speedway on 14 May 1951, when Ipswich competed against Yarmouth in a challenge match. The inaugural league season was the
1952 Speedway Southern League, where the team finished 8th. For their inaugural season, the team adopted the nickname the 'Witches' because of the town's history with the 17th century Suffolk Witch Hunts. The early stars of Ipswich speedway were
Junior Bainbridge and
Bert Edwards. Attendances approached 20,000 but the team remained in the second division until the merger of the National league in
1957. Despite signing riders such as
Peter Moore, the team struggled and dropped down to the
1959 Southern Area League.
1960s The Witches moved back up to the highest division for 1960 and 1961 and led by Peter Moore, finished fourth and sixth respectively. However, after ten seasons of league speedway the team withdrew from the
1962 Speedway National League mid-season due to financial issues. The 1962 season was the worst in the history of the club, they lost their new signing
Olle Nygren to ill-health before the season even started and then
Jack Unstead was killed in the first recorded fatal crash at Foxhall Stadium on 13 April 1962. After very little action, except for some junior matches the club returned under the promotion of Joe Thorley and
John Berry in 1969. Berry built a new smaller track inside the stock car circuit.
1970s After signing
John Harrhy and
John Louis, the team won their first honours in 1970, winning the
Knockout Cup. They repeated the success in 1971, before John Berry applied for membership of the
British League in 1972. The Witches established their place in the league over the next three seasons and then won consecutive British League Championships in 1975 and 1976 and two Knock-Out Cup wins in 1976 and 1978. The 1975 title success saw Ipswich defeat
Belle Vue Aces by a solitary point. John Louis and
Billy Sanders scored heavily throughout the season for Ipswich. The following year in 1976, during Ipswich's second consecutive title, the team was once again headed by John Louis and Billy Sanders but this time
Tony Davey also scored well with an average of 8.37, resulting in a comfortable league title success for the Suffolk team. The team then went on to claim the double on 28 October by winning the Knockout Cup.
1980s The team enjoyed a successful period during the early 1980s, winning the Knockout Cup again in 1981 and then securing the league and cup double again during the
1984 British League season, despite losing their leading rider
Dennis Sigalos and Dane
Preben Eriksen after the 1983 season. Australian Sanders remained one of the team's main scorers and he was supported by strong season scoring from American showman
John Cook, Finn
Kai Niemi and the English international pair of
Jeremy Doncaster and
Richard Knight. Just three matches into the 1985 season Sanders killed himself on 23 April. The news shocked the club and the wider speedway world. Following the death of Sanders and Berry's subsequent decision to quit, the club struggled and almost closed before being saved by a consortium which included former rider John Louis but they dropped to the National League in 1989.
1990s During the National League seasons of 1989 and 1990,
Chris Louis (the son of John Louis) emerged as the club's new star. When the Witches returned to the top tier for the
1991 British League season, Louis and
Tony Rickardsson headed the team before Rickardsson left after the 1993 season and then returned in 1997 for the renamed Elite League. For the
1998 Elite League speedway season, Ipswich signed
Tomasz Gollob and along with Rickardsson, Louis and
Scott Nicholls the team dominated British speedway, winning the Elite League, the Knock-Out Cup and the end of season
Craven Shield tournament. In addition, Rickardsson won his second World title, Louis was British champion and Nicholls was
British Under-21 champion.
2000s The team spent the entire decade in the Elite League, finishing third in 2000 and 2004 (the latter resulting in elimination in the play off semi finals). In 2008, they finished fourth and once again were eliminated in the play off semi finals. The early part of the decade saw Scott Nicholls as their leading rider alongside Louis, with other notable seasons from
Mark Loram,
Jarosław Hampel and
Hans Andersen. Chris Louis remained an ever present for 19 seasons from 1989 to 2008, with the exception of missing the 2003 season with a back injury.
2010s In November 2010, the Witches moved down to the
Premier League (second tier). In 2011, the Witches finished in third place in the final Premier League table and won the
Premier League Four-Team Championship staged at Leicester. During
2012 Premier League speedway season, Director of Speedway Chris Louis steered the through to team to the
Knockout Cup final, finishing runner-up. For 2013, a new number one rider,
Ben Barker joined the Witches, with the team managing a second-place finish behind
Somerset Rebels. The following season in 2014,
Richie Worrall joined as the new number one, with the Witches finishing third in the Premier League and reaching the Knockout Cup final. The Witches finished seventh in the Premier League in 2015 but won the
pairs with
Danny King and
Rohan Tungate. In 2017, the team reached the play off final losing to
Peterborough Panthers. Shortly before 2019, Ipswich decided to move back to the top division of British speedway, reaching the play off final of the
SGB Premiership 2019 season.
2020s The 2020 season was cancelled in July 2020 as a result of the restrictions placed on sporting events by the
COVID-19 pandemic rules, set by the UK Government and in 2021, the Witches finished fifth in the
SGB Premiership The Witches signed
Jason Doyle in 2022 and he spearheaded the team when they won the 2022
Pairs championship and finished second in the
SGB Premiership 2022, losing in the play-off semi final. The resurgence continued in 2023, when Ipswich won the Knockout Cup (top division) for the sixth time. Led by Doyle, Danny King and Russian signing
Emil Sayfutdinov they also reached the play offs. After several unlucky seasons, the Witches won the
2025 Premiership, becoming champions of Britain for the fifth time, after winning the play off final against
Leicester Lions, with Doyle and Sayfutdinov starring. At the end of the title winning season, Chris Louis and Ritchie Hawkins left the club with Louis looking to sell to a new promoter. In 2026, the club was bought by Silverstone based company Mayfield and
Paul Hurry was installed as the new team manager. == Season summary ==