Sky Tv Match Nightmare

The Witches have crashed to a depressing 38-53 defeat to the high flying Swindon Robins at Foxhall tonight in the Monday night live match.

The evening, which had started brightly for the Witches then ended with yet more injury concerns when Tobi Kroner crashed full pelt into the fence with such force that it was no surprise that he was rushed to hospital. Kroner went into the air fence on the first bend with ferocious force after Zagar appeared to impede the home rider. An ambulance was soon called and Kroner received lengthy treatment on the track although he was conscious and able to move his arms and legs when placed into the ambulance.

Despite bike trouble prior to the start when Dawid Stachyra blew an engine in the warm-up the Witches got the best possible start when Jarek Hampel outgated and comfortably defeat Leigh Adams.

Unfortunately it didn't get any better, in fact it was all downhill for the Witches in a poor spell that saw them concede 3 maximum heat advantages in 3 of the next 4 races. Witches fans were even more desolate after the visitors took a comfortable 5-1 heat five to take a 20-9 lead, allowing Ipswich to use Hampel as a tactical rider for double points as early as heat six. Jarek despite challenging could only take second to the impressive Zagar and the 5-3 advantage only clawed back the Witches to 9 points down.

There were then 4 consecutive shared heats meaning the Witches needed something from heat 13 to have any chance of taking at least a point from the meeting. Zagar, however had other ideas and sped away to another impressive victory although the Foxhall crowd were treated to the rare sight of Leigh Adams relegated to third.

Stachyra was controversially excluded in the penultimate race when Fisher fell heavily on the third bend - referee Dale Entwistle making his decision after watching a TV replay of the incident. This summed up the Witches night, although Daniel King was in determined mood in the re-run to chalk up his first win despite making contact with the fence on the final circuit. The crash in the final race saw Sky TV go beyond their 9.30pm scheduled cut-off time, and when the fence was repaired Zagar was allowed back in the re-run to win it to complete a full maximum.

Ipswich Witches 38

1 Jarek Hampel  3 ^4 2 2 1 = 11
2 Leigh Lanham 1 1' 1' 1' = 4+3
3 Tobi Kroner 1' 0 2 3 Fn  = 6+1
4 Danny King 2 1 1' 3 0 = 7+1
5 Piotr Swiderski R 3 2 ^0 = 5
6 Dawid Stachyra 1 0 N Fx = 1
7 Carl Wilkinson R R 2 1' 0 = 3+1

Team manager: Pete Simmons


Swindon Robins 53

1 Leigh Adams 2 3 3 1 = 9
2 Simon Stead 0 2' R 0 = 2+1
3 Jurica Pavelic 0 1' 0 1' = 2+2
4 Travis McGowan 3 2 3 2 2' = 12+1
5 Matej Zagar 3 3 3 3 3 = 15
6 K Stojanowski 2' 0 0 2 = 4+1
7 R Fisher 3 2' 3 1' = 9+2

Team manager: Alan Rossiter

Ht 1 Hampel, Adams, Lanham, Stead  4-2
Ht 2 Fisher, Stojanowski, Stachyra, Wilkinson 1-5, 5-7
Ht 3 McGowan, King, Kroner, Pavelic  3-3, 8-10
Ht 4 Zagar, Fisher, Swiderski Ret, Wilkinson Ret  0-5, 8-15
Ht 5 Adams, Stead, King, Kroner  1-5, 9-20
Ht 6 Zagar, Hampel (T/R), Lanham, Sto  5-3, 14-23
Ht 7 Swiderski, McGowan, Pavelic, Stachyra  3-3, 17-26
Ht 8 Fisher, Wilkinson, Lanham, Stead Ret  3-3, 20-29
Ht 9 Zagar, Kroner, King, Stojanowski  3-3, 23-32
Ht 10 McGowan, Hampel, Lanham, Pavelic  3-3, 26-35
Ht 11 Adams, Swiderski, Wilkinson, Stead  3-3, 29-38
Ht 12 Kroner, McGowan, Pavelic, Wilkinson  3-3, 32-41
Ht 13 Zagar, Hampel, Adams, Swiderski (T/R)  2-4, 34-45
Ht 14 Re-Run King, McGowan, Fisher, Stachyra Fx 3-3, 37-48
Ht 15 Re-Run Zagar, McGowan, Hampel, King  1-5, 38-53

01, Jun, 2009