Witches Hammered At Home

The Ipswich Witches have slumped to an unexpected home defeat against local rivals the Lakeside Hammers. The visitors gained their first heat advantage in heat two after a shared heat one and this was quickly followed by a 1-5 in heat four after Robert Miskowiak fell on the third bend while challenging for second place with Daniel Davidsson. Heat six saw a better start for the Witches with Olly Allen leading, closely follwed by Scott Nicholls - however Olly then lifted on the back straight and fell, this caused Scott to take avoiding action which allowed Adam Shields to pass him and the Hammers were now eight points ahead.

Heat eight saw Olly Allen don the B/W helmet and he rode well to secure the full six points with Carl Wilkinson hanging on to third so the deficit was reduced to five points. This was soon to increase again as Danny King was beaten by Adam Shields in the next heat and Paul Hurry came in third after a very hard move on Carl WIlkinson which saw the Witches number seven hit the shale near the second bend. Heats ten & eleven saw a glimmer of hope for the home fans as we managed two 4-2s to peg the Hammers back to a three point lead. This gap was maintained for the next two heats so going in to heat 14 it was vital that we get another heat advantage to have any hope of league points from the meeting. With Danny King in the lineup, who had only dropped one point in his three rides, this looked possible although his partner, Dawid Stachyra, had clearly been struggling all night. The Hammers had other ideas and the Davidsson brothers romped home for a 5- 1 clinching the win for their team. Going in to heat fifteen the visitors required a minimum 3-3 to guarantee the four league points and when Scott took the lead the pairing of Richardson Jonas Davidsson team rode to keep Danny at the back to bring home the required result.

Lakeside are now in second place in the Elite League table and entertain the Poole Pirates at the Arena-Essex raceway tonight. Meanwhile the Witches travel to Brandon to take on the Coventry Bees.

Photos from the meeting can be accessed in our photo gallery here

Meeting Scorecard:

Ipswich Witches: 43											Lakeside Hammers: 50
1. S Nicholls	1'	2	3	2	3	-	-	11	1		1. L Richardson	3	2	2	3	1'	-	-	11	1
2. O Allen	2	0	6!	1	3	0	-	12	0		2. S Robson	0	1'	2	0	-	-	-	3	1
3. R/R	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		3. K Nieminen	1'	1	0	2	-	-	-	4	1
4. D King	3	3	2	1	-	-	-	9	0		4. J Davidsson	2	3	2	2'	2	-	-	11	1
5. R Miskowiak	D	2	3	1'	-	-	-	6	1		5. A Shields	3	3	3	EF		-	-	9	0
6. D Stachyra	F	1	0	0	-	-	-	1	0		6. P Hurry	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	3	0
7. C Wilkinson	2	0	0	1	F	1	F	4	0		7. D Davidsson	3	2'	0	1'	3	-	-	9	2
Team manager: Pete Simmons											Team manager: Jon Cook

Heat Details

Heat 01: Richardson, Allen, Nicholls, Robson 3-3 58.7
Heat 02: D.Davidsson, Wilkinson, Hurry, Stachyra(F) 2-4 5-7 59.4
Heat 03: King, J.Davidsson, Nieminen, Wilkinson 3-3 8-10 58.9
Heat 04: Shields, D.Davidsson, Stachyra, Miskowiak(EX) 1-5 9-15 59.5
Heat 05: King, Richardson, Robson, Wilkinson 3-3 12-18 58.3(NEW TR)
Heat 06: Shields, Nicholls, Hurry, Allen 2-4 14-22 59.6
Heat 07: J.Davidsson, Miskowiak, Nieminen, Stachyra 2-4 16-26 58.9
Heat 08: ALLEN, Robson, Wilkinson, D.Davidsson 7-2 23-28 59.8
Heat 09: Shields, King, Hurry, Wilkinson(F) 2-4 25-32 59.9
Heat 10: Nicholls, J.Davidsson, Allen, Nieminen 4-2 29-34 59.4
Heat 11: Miskowiak, Richardson, Wilkinson, Robson 4-2 33-36 59.4
Heat 12: Allen, Nieminen, D.Davidsson, Wilkinson(F) 3-3 36-39 60.5
Heat 13: Richardson, Nicholls, Miskowiak, Shields(EF) 3-3 39-42 59.2
Heat 14: D.Davidsson, J.Davidsson, King, Stachyra 1-5 40-47 59.7
Heat 15: Nicholls, J.Davidsson, Richardson, Allen 3-3 43-50 59.3

Heat details courtesy of speedwayupdates.co.uk

Photo courtesy of Jeff Higgott.

14, May, 2010