Witches Take Opening Night Victory

The Witches staged a late comeback to take a four point victory over their local rivals, the Lakeside Hammers, on the new look Foxhall track. Earlier in the day it looked like the weather was going to win as rain fell in the early afternoon but it then cleared up and the riders all gave the track a big thumbs up after their pre-meeting walk.

As the tapes rose for the first heat our new number two, Claus Vissing, roared from the start to take the first victory and set the first track record on the new track. Scott Nicholls followed him home to get our first 5-1 of the evening. However the Hammers reserves then hit back with a 5-1 of their own in heat two.

Three shared heats followed before the Witches pairing of Nicholls & Vissing got a 4-2 in heat six. At this point Lakeside gained the upper hand by scoring two 5-1s in three heats and the Witches were trailing by 6 after heat 11.

In heat thirteen Robert Miskowiak fell on the fourth bend when in third place behind Scott and was disqualified for causing a stoppage. Scott won the re-run to leave the Witches still four points behind going in to heat fourteen. Olly Allen & Dawid Stachyra then pulled it back level with a 5-1 leaving us with a last heat decider.

Danny & Scott were nominated for heat fifteen, alongside Kasprzak & Shields for the Hammers. Danny flew from the tapes and then Scott steamed through the Hammers pair coming down the back straight for the first time, That's how it stayed for the remainder of the heat and Danny's winning time was the fastest of the night leaving him as the current track record holder.

In his interview afterwards Danny was full of praise for the new track and said that if the weather had been better the racing would have been even faster. He said that as the weeks progressed the track should produce some very exciting racing. All of the riders were very positive about their first meeting and we hope the fans enjoyed their first taste of action on the new track.

First league meeting is next Friday, 2nd April, at 2:30pm - there will be the usual holiday entertainment before the meeting and a special offer for children's admission. Full details will be posted on here in the next few days...

Ipswich Witches: 47											Lakeside Hammers: 43
1. S Nicholls	2'	3	F	3	2'	-	-	10	2		1. K Kasprzak	1	3	3	2	1	-	-	10	0
2. C Vissing	3	1	1	1	-	-	-	6	0		2. S Robson	0	0	3	1	-	-	-	4	0
3. D King	2	2	3	3	3	-	-	13	0		3. K Nieminen	3	1'	3	0	-	-	-	7	1
4. O Allen	1'	1'	1	3	-	-	-	6	2		4. J Davidsson	0	2	2'	1	-	-	-	5	1
5. R Miskowiak	2	3	2	F	-	-	-	7	0		5. A Shields	3	2	2	1'	0	-	-	8	1
6. D Stachyra	1	1'	0	0	2'	-	-	4	1		6. P Hurry	2'	0	0	2	0	-	-	4	1
7. R Hawkins	0	0	1	-	-	-	-	1	0		7. D Davidsson	3	0	2'	T	-	-	-	5
Team manager: Pete Simmons											Team manager: Jon Cook

Heat Results:

Ht 1 Vissing, Nicholls, Kasprzak, Robson 5-1, 63.2 (First track record on new track)
Ht 2 D.Davidsson, Hurry, Stachyra, Hawkins 1-5, 6-6 63.9
Ht 3 Nieminen, King, Allen, J.Davidsson 3-3, 9-9, 62.8
Ht 4 Shields, Miskowiak, Stachyra, D.Davidsson 3-3, 12-12, 62.7 
Ht 5 Kasprzak, King, Allen, Robson 3-3, 15-15, 62.3
Ht 6 Nicholls, Shields, Vissing, Hurry 4-2, 19-17, 62.2
Ht 7 Miskowiak, J.Davidsson, Nieminen, Hawkins 3-3, 22-20, 62.4
Ht 8 Robson, D.Davidsson, Vissing, Stachyra 1-5, 23-25, 62.5
Ht 9 King, Shields, Allen, Hurry 4-2, 27-27, 61.7
Ht 10 Re-run Nieminen, J.Davidsson, Vissing, Nicholls (FDQ) 1-5, 28-32 61.8
Ht 11 Kasprzak, Miskowiak, Robson, Stachyra 2-4, 30-36 61.8
Ht 12 King, Hurry, Hawkins, Nieminen 4-2, 34-38 62.1
Ht 13 Re-run Nicholls, Kasprzak, Shields, Miskowiak (FDQ) 3-3, 37-41, 62.2
Ht 14 Allen, Stachyra, J.Davidsson, Hurry 5-1, 42-42, 62.9
Ht 15 King, Nicholls, Kasprzak, Shields 5-1, 47-43, 61.2 (New track record)

Heat details courtesy of speedwayupdates.co.uk

25, Mar, 2010