By Henry Chard

THE SCORES

LEICESTER 52: Max Fricke 11, Justin Sedgmen 7+1, Richard Lawson 4+1, Chris Harris © 9+1, Nick Morris 7+1, Jake Allen 7+2, Drew Kemp (G) (RS) 7+1. Team Manager: Stewart Dickson

IPSWICH 38: Jason Doyle 7+1, Ben Barker 1, Danny King © 6, Keynan Rew 3, Emil Sayfutdinov 17, Danyon Hume 3, Joe Thompson (RS) 1. Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins

REFEREE: C. Gay

SPORTS INSURE PREMIERSHIP TABLE

Team	Meetings	Points
Belle Vue	11	19
Wolverhampton	9	16
Leicester	8	13
Sheffield	7	10
Ipswich	9	8
King’s Lynn	8	5
Peterborough	8	2

THE STORY

The Ipswich ‘Tru Mix’ Witches were beaten by Leicester on Thursday night in the Sports Insure Premiership.

The Suffolk side held a four-point lead in the battle for the aggregate bonus point after a narrow win at Foxhall over the Lions in May, but the home team started strongly to build a big lead and they never looked back as they picked up all three points on offer to go third in the table. Emil Sayfutdinov top scored with 17 points.

Justin Sedgmen kept Jason Doyle at bay in heat one with Max Fricke third for a 4-2 to the Lions. The home team then extended their lead in heat two with a comfortable 5-1. Danny King made the gate in heat three, but Chris Harris passed the Witches skipper at the end of the first lap as Leicester recorded another heat advantage. Nick Morris was the early leader in heat four, but Sayfutdinov stormed under the Australian at the start of the second lap to go on and take the win in a shared heat, but the Witches already had work to do being 16-8 down.

Doyle blasted pass both Lions down the back straight on the opening lap of heat five to take the win as Ben Barker picked up a point for a 2-4. Danyon Hume went through the tapes in heat six and was replaced by Joe Thompson as the hosts picked up another 4-2 in re-run. Heat seven was awarded as a 5-1 to the home team. Morris and Jake Allen were leading the race with King right on their tail before Morris blocked a move from the Ipswich captain on the final lap causing him to fall. Heat eight was stopped as Barker locked up and fell and he was excluded. Leicester raced to another 5-1 in the re-run to give them a big 32-16 lead.

Sayfutdinov coasted to victory in a shared heat nine before the home team added another two points to their lead with a heat advantage in heat 10. Team manager Ritchie Hawkins brought in Sayfutdinov as a tactical substitute in heat 11 to partner Doyle but it was Morris who made the gate. However, the Ipswich number five charged under Morris at the start of the second lap which in the process allowed Doyle through into the second for a 1-5 to the Witches. King won heat 12 as Hume finished third for a 2-4 to make the score 42-30, keeping the Witches just about in contention for the aggregate bonus point.

Heat 13 was stopped with the home team on a 5-1 as Doyle was excluded after being adjudged to have brought down Morris. Sayfutdinov won the re-run, but Leicester secured the two league points with the 3-3. The Lions then secured the aggregate bonus point in heat 14 with a 5-1. Sayfutdinov and King were on a maximum in heat 15 but Fricke managed to split the Witches pair, resulting in a 2-4 that left the final score 52-38.

REACTION FROM THE BOSS

Ipswich ‘Tru Mix’ Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins reflects on Thursday’s defeat to Leicester.

“It was another disappointing result and that is three in a row. We have clearly not been strong enough in those three meetings and tonight we were not making good starts for the first two thirds of the meeting. You can’t let teams get that far ahead of you. We need to pick ourselves up quickly for Monday because if we don’t improve vastly then we will get beaten again.

“We started the season well, but maybe other teams have improved and hit form. We have been missing riders and using R/R a lot and that has caught up with us. At the moment we are a team down in form whereas others are on the up. We have got to pull our socks up quickly and get back on the upwards trend to get the feel-good factor back at the club.

“We are not a million miles away even though the final scores would suggest otherwise. By watching the actual races, we are not a million miles off, but we need to improve in areas, be more clinical and not make mistakes. The effort and determination are certainly there but the execution hasn’t been.

“Emil was superb again and he has taken a real liking to this track, and he provided some real entertainment tonight. Erik (Riss) is going to race for Redcar on Friday which is very positive. He has improved since his last treatments, and he is going to ride. We will wait and see how he gets on and we hope he comes through that well. He will have two meetings with Redcar before Ben’s 28 days are up, so we will wait and see how he gets on.”

RIDER OF THE NIGHT

Sayfutdinov was in a league of his own on the night dropping just one point from six rides.

WHAT IT MEANS

With three points Leicester move up to third in the table as Ipswich stay fifth.

UP NEXT

The Ipswich ‘Tru Mix’ Witches host the Sheffield Tigers at Foxhall Stadium on Monday 12th June in the Sports Insure Premiership. Tickets can be purchased online in advance here and on the gate.