John Louis 40 years Ipswich Speedway

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This is taken from http://www.ipswichspeedway.com:

First Ride For A Foxhall Legend
On 31st July 1969 John Louis had his first programmed ride at Foxhall Stadium having never made a tapes start before in his life. In that first race John finished third and that was actually due to someone else falling off and he was quite a way behind the other two at the end of the race.


However he returned the following week as a reserve in a Best Pairs meeting and scored seven points from five rides.

The rest, as they say, is history - John quickly became a firm favourite with the Foxhall faithful and led the Ipswich Witches through the golden years of the seventies.

A website has been set up to celebrate the huge contribution John has made to the sport both in Ipswich, and further afield, over the last 40 years - link can be found here: www.speedwayinfo.co.uk/JohnLouis/HomePage.html

Look out for more articles in the meeting programme over the following weeks.

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Taken from Lovespeedway:

Pavitt calls for major changes
ELVIN KING

Last updated: 21/10/2009 15:00:00

FORMER Ipswich Witches co-promoter Dave Pavitt today called for major changes within British speedway, and for Chris Louis to join the promoters' ranks as soon as possible.

Pavitt is currently promoting at National League Isle of Wight having been at Foxhall Stadium from 1989 until 1997.

He was back on the heath last week for the Great Britain versus Australia Under-25 test match, and said: “I came back to see John Louis, who is celebrating 40 years with Ipswich.

“It is only the third time I have been back since I left and it warmed the cockles of my heart to see so many smiling faces.

“John has had a remarkable career both as a rider and promoter at Ipswich and it was great to see him again.

“I am sure his son Chris will do just as good a job when he takes over.

“And as far as I am concerned the sooner he gets involved with the British Speedway Promoters' Association the better.

“Chris is the type that the sport desperately needs to make the right decisions for the sport.”

Pavitt has seen gates drop for club meetings and says that major changes have to be made.

“When we were running Ipswich in the National League in 1989 and 1990 we had great attendance figures although I am not going to say how high they were,” added Pavitt, who lives on the south coast.

“The British speedway public to me now get their fix on Monday nights in front of their televisions.

“They will go and watch big high-profile meetings, but are reluctant to pay to go to club meetings.

“Society has changed and although the product remains good it is so much harder to make money.”

Although Pavitt would not give a figure it is believed that Foxhall attendance figures did not drop below 2,000 in 1989 and 1990 when overheads were much lower with the club in what was then affectively the second division.

Television has proved a double-edged sword with Pavitt saying: “We were crying out for more exposure but now that we have wonderful TV coverage fans are not being attracted to league meetings.

“But I fear what will happen of Sky ever pulled the plug.

“We have to do something to ensure the continuation of league speedway in this country.”