KING DEFIES INJURY TO SEAL IPSWICH RETURN

Former British champion Danny King admits he feared an injury-hit season had cost him his place with Ipswich after sealing a return for 2025.

King suffered a fractured hand while racing for Cab Direct Championship side Redcar in April and underwent surgery.

Despite getting back on track, the former Great Britain international admits the injury hampered him throughout the campaign as the Witches reached the Rowe Motor Oil Premiership play-off semi-finals.

King was not sure if he would be offered a new contract but joins former FIM Speedway of Nations world champion Emil Sayfutdinov, Dan Thompson and Jordan Jenkins in the Ipswich starting line-up.

He said: “I don’t want to go anywhere else; I want to be there. I didn’t have a great year in general with everything that went on with my hand and struggling to carry on racing. Speaking to the club, it means so much to me to know they want me back and just shows my loyalty to them works both ways. They knew full well that I was not 100 percent, and they know that I have got room for improvement on my average. But I certainly did feel that this year, it might not happen.”

King admits he is going back to his surgeon for further checks on the injury to ensure a full recovery for 2025.

He said: “It was a tricky injury, I broke my hand quite badly, I’m not sure if everyone knows how bad it was. It was bad, it needed to be plated, and the hand is a tricky one. 

“You can ride with a sore leg but with your hand, you need to hold on and I can’t fully close my hand enough to squeeze the handlebar how I want to hold it. I have to force my hand closed which makes it difficult on rough tracks to hold on.

“I felt comfortable enough to race. I didn’t feel like I was going to fall off all the time, but it wasn’t 100 percent. Fighting that all year was difficult and I was doing everything behind the scenes with physio to try and help and it did, but it was a tricky year. To do it so early in the year and try and finish the year like that wasn’t easy.

“As soon as the season finished, I got back in contact with the surgeon, and he is seeing me next month, so we will see what he says. 

“There is a lot that going on in the hand and a lot that can happen after an operation, and I think that is what has happened.

“I think it is a scar tissue, and he did say these things could happen. Hopefully he will be aware of it when I see him and it is not a massive deal and just a little bit of surgery and it will be fixed quickly.”

Elsewhere, Sheffield have confirmed that skipper Kyle Howarth will depart the club this winter.