Rowe Motor Oil Premiership champions Ipswich Witches are set for an exciting new era with the fans at its heart after Mayfield, parent company of the FIM Speedway World Championships, completed its takeover of the club.
Mayfield can today confirm that it has purchased the Suffolk side from Ipswich legend Chris Louis, who won league titles with the Witches as a rider in 1998 and again as a promoter in 2025.
With Louis opting to sell the Witches following one of the greatest seasons in the club’s history, Mayfield looked at the opportunity to purchase the club late last year.
The acquisition comes just months after the Silverstone-based company took over as global promoter of the FIM Speedway World Championships.
Coleman is joined on the Ipswich management team by co-promoter and general manager Andrew Chisholm, who was responsible for the project when Mayfield served as an award-winning local organiser of the FIM Speedway GP of Great Britain – Cardiff on behalf of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports in 2023 and 2024. Chisholm has won multiple championships in other motorsport disciplines working alongside Coleman.
Former Ipswich rider and European Grasstrack champion Paul Hurry – a member of the Autocycle Union (ACU) Track Racing Commission – will serve as the club’s new team manager, replacing title-winning boss Ritchie Hawkins.
As a company steeped in motorsport heritage, Mayfield is excited to step up their involvement in speedway in the UK .
Coleman said: “We believe deeply in the sport of speedway. At its core, it is a fantastic product – fast, intense and perfectly suited to modern attention spans – but it has not always been promoted or presented in the way it deserves. We care enormously about the future of the sport in the UK, and we are genuinely excited to become custodians of Ipswich.
“This club is far more than a business. Founded in 1951 and winners of five top-flight league titles, Ipswich is an institution with a proud history and a passionate community behind it. We feel the weight of that responsibility and are honoured to play a part in its next chapter.
“For various reasons, I have not been able to speak publicly while we worked hard behind the scenes to secure the club’s future. We arrived very late in the process for the 2026 season – at a time when other clubs had already assembled their teams, which made building a competitive squad particularly challenging. Despite that, we believe we have put together a line-up capable of competing, and our immediate priority now is to stabilise the club and put in place the foundations for long-term success. We look forward to sharing the full one-to-seven on Monday.
“I want to thank the supporters for their patience during a period of uncertainty. They deserved clarity sooner, and I would have preferred to communicate earlier, but that was not possible while negotiations were ongoing. Their loyalty has not gone unnoticed, and we are determined to repay that faith by building a stable, ambitious future for Ipswich Speedway.”
The full Rowe Motor Oil Premiership fixture list and details about season tickets will be released very soon. The club’s press and practice day will take place on March 26, with more information to follow in due course.
Words and Feature Image by Ipswich Speedway
