Young Aussie Guest Stars In Home Win

The Ipswich Witches took all three league points on offer yesterday. Both teams had to draft in a guest at late notice due to injuries with Justin Sedgmen coming in for Dawid Stachyra and Jan Graversen coming in for Krzsztof Buczkowski. The guest choice for Ipswich proved to be a trump card as Justin scored 10+1 from seven rides and was rightly announced 'Man of the Meeting'. The meeting was attended by the Mayor of Ipswich, David Goldsmith & his wife Sue who said after the meeting "It's my first time at speedway for 45 years and I wouldn't have missed it". Two former Witches, Tich Read and Ken Last, were also in the crowd.and both agreed that widening the track had greatly improved the passing opportunities and the racing standards.

The first heat saw Iversen disqualified after he dived down the inside of Olly Allen on the first bend causing him to come off. After having some medical attention Olly took part in the re-run but later withdrew from the meeting. We understand that several of his fingers may have been injured and that he went to Ipswich Hospital for x-rays, etc. Heat three saw Claus Vissing touch the tapes in his eagerness to put on a good show against his parent club so he had to start from 15m and was unable to make up any ground so came in last. The next few heats were closely matched and the Witches only held a two point lead going in to heat six. This saw Scott start off 15 meteres after he touched the tapes - he quickly passed Eklof within the first lap and then, helped by Sedgmen, they both went past Batchelor to secure the first 5-1 of the afternoon and extend the lead to six points.

The next six heats saw the Panthers twice pull back two points only to lose them again which meant the Witches going in to heat thirteen still six points ahead This was stopped when the two Panthers clashed, ending in Troy Batchelor hitting the shale, he was disqualified from the re-run. Neils Kristian Iversen then hit the tapes so he started the second re-run off 15 metres and never really got near the Witches pairing of Scott and Robert so the gap opened up to ten points. Kenneth Bjerre came out, as expected, wearing the B/W helmet cover in heat fourteen but as his partner, Graversen, trailed in last they only pulled back three points. A 3-3 was required in heat fifteen and Scott didn't disappoint, he held off Bjerre and Iversen to take the chequered flag first and secure the three league points and his first paid maximum of the season.

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

Meeting Scorecard

Ipswich Witches: 50											Peterborough Panthers: 43
1. S Nicholls	3	2'	3	2'	3	-	-	13	2		1. N K Iversen	D	3	3	1	1'	-	-	8	1
2. O Allen	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-		2. U Ostergaard	2	0	3	1	-	-	-	6	0
3. C Vissing	0	1'	R	3	-	-	-	4	1		3. L Bridger	2	1	D	2	-	-	-	5	0
4. D King	3	2	3	2	-	-	-	10	0		4. K Bjerre	1'	3	2	6!	2	-	-	14	1
5. R Miskowiak	3	2	2	3	-	-	-	10	0		5. T Batchelor	2	0	2	D	-	-	-	4	0
6. J Sedgmen	2	3	2	1	0	1	1'	10	1		6. L Eklof	3	0	1	1'	0	-	-	5	1
7. H Skidmore	0	1	0	1'	-	-	-	2	1		7. J Graversen	1	0	0	-	-	-	-	1	0
Team manager: Pete Simmons											Team manager: Trevor Swales

Heat Results

Heat 01: Re-run Nicholls, Ostergaard, Allen 4-2 59.3
Heat 02: Eklof, Sedgmen, Graversen, Skidmore 2-4 6-6 59.9
Heat 03: King, Bridger, Bjerre, Vissing 3-3 9-9 59.0
Heat 04: Miskowiak, Batchelor, Skidmore, Eklof 4-2 13-11 60.2
Heat 05: Iversen, King, Vissing, Ostergaard 3-3 16-14 59.2
Heat 06: Sedgmen, Nicholls, Eklof, Batchelor 5-1 21-15 61.3
Heat 07: Bjerre, Miskowiak, Bridger, Skidmore 2-4 23-19 59.6
Heat 08: Ostergaard, Sedgmen, Skidmore, Graversen 3-3 26-22 60.2
Heat 09: King, Batchelor, Eklof, Vissing 3-3 29-25 60.1
Heat 10: Re-run Nicholls, Bjerre, Sedgmen 4-2 33-27 60.2
Heat 11: Iversen, Miskowiak, Ostergaard, Sedgmen 2-4 35-31 59.8
Heat 12: Vissing, Bridger, Sedgmen, Eklof 4-2 39-33 60.6
Heat 13: Re-run Miskowiak, Nicholls, Iversen 5-1 44-34 60.0
Heat 14: BJERRE, King, Sedgmen, Graversen 3-6 47-40 59.4
Heat 15: Nicholls, Bjerre, Iversen, Miskowiak 3-3 50-43 59.7

Heat details courtesy of speedwayupdates.co.uk

Photo courtesy of Phil Hilton.

04, May, 2010