By Rob Binns
THE SCORES
LEICESTER 53: Max Fricke © 15+1, Richard Lawson 10+1, Sam Masters 7+2, Luke Becker 12+1, Ryan Douglas R/R, Craig Cook 6+1, Sam Hagon (RS) 3, Max James DNR. Team Manager: Stewart Dickson
IPSWICH 37: Scott Nicholls (G) 3, Dan Thompson (RS) R/R, Danny King © 4, Adam Ellis 3, Emil Sayfutdinov 15, Keynan Rew 9+2, Jordan Jenkins 3+1, Freddy Hodder DNR. Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
REFEREE: M. Wear
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP TABLE
| Team | Meetings | Points |
| Ipswich | 16 | 29 |
| Sheffield | 14 | 22 |
| Belle Vue | 15 | 21 |
| Oxford | 17 | 20 |
| Leicester | 14 | 16 |
| King’s Lynn* | 12 | 9 |
| Birmingham | 14 | 6 |
THE STORY
The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches suffered their fourth defeat of the season in a tough meeting against the Leicester Lions at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership on Thursday.
Both sides were forced into using rider replacement due to riders failing late fitness checks. Ipswich were without Dan Thompson for whom this meeting came too soon following his dislocated shoulder at the Speedway of Nations 2. Scott Nicholls guested at number one for the Witches again in the continued absence of Jason Doyle. Ryan Douglas suffered a hand injury in a crash on Tuesday, keeping him out of the meeting for Leicester. After a tight opening, the hosts pulled clear to record a 16-point victory as Emil Sayfutdinov top scored with 15.
Lions captain Max Fricke won heat one in a heat advantage for the home side with Keynan Rew splitting the two home riders. Heat two saw Jordan Jenkins initially given a warning for movement at the start before being excluded upon video review forcing him to go off 15m. The Witches reserve came incredibly close to getting round Craig Cook for a point, but the re-run ended in another 4-2 to the hosts. Ipswich skipper Danny King took a fall in the first corner of heat three but managed to remount and finish as Adam Ellis took the chequered flag for a share of the points. Sayfutdinov cruised to victory in heat four with Jenkins in third to take the score to 13-11 to the Lions.
Luke Becker flew to the heat win in heat five with Nicholls rounding Sam Masters on the third bend to limit the damage to a heat advantage. Heat six saw Richard Lawson take the victory with Fricke holding off Sayfutdinov to earn a maximum. The hosts followed that up with another 5-1 with Cook getting ahead of King and successfully keeping him at bay which opened the door for Masters to also pass the Ipswich captain. Lawson and Rew had a fierce battle in heat eight, alternating passes on each bend in the first two laps but the Leicester number two took the win in a shared heat to make it 30-18 to the hosts.
Sayfutdinov won heat nine with Rew gating in fourth before superbly passing both Lions riders on the inside of the second bend to earn the only Witches maximum of the meeting. The hosts hit straight back in heat 10 with Fricke and Lawson earning a 5-1. Sayfutdinov came in as a tactical substitute in heat 11 to take the chequered flag with Nicholls in third for a 2-4. Masters won a shared heat 12 which took the scores to 41-31.
An all-action heat 13 resulted in Fricke taking the victory with Lawson in third for a heat advantage which confirmed defeat for the Witches. The Lions hit a maximum in heat 14 courtesy of Becker and Cook. A shared heat 15 was won by Sayfutdinov to close a disappointing night for the Witches.
REACTION FROM THE BOSS
Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins reflects on Thursday’s defeat at Leicester.
“Tough night at the office for the boys. We fought really hard and worked our nuts off all night again. I certainly can’t criticise any of them for their effort. We weren’t miles off, certainly not as far off as the scoreline suggests but the fine margins all added up. It wasn’t the result we asked for, but we’ll regroup and come again next week.
“Emil and Keynan were definitely our highlights. Some great racing from Emil again, obviously a track we know he’s really good on and Keynan continuing his improvement and form from Speedway of Nations 2. So that’s a positive and I’m sure if we end up going back there later in the year, we’ll be back on form like we have been in the past.
“Leicester are a really good team and they’re starting to come into a bit of form at home but so are we. We’ve certainly done very well at Foxhall this year and hit some big scores. We’ll go into the second leg with a focus on winning the meeting first, but the bonus point is still in our reach. Moving onto King’s Lynn next week, we’ve not lost that for a long time, and we all know the meaning of it. We’ll definitely go there looking to attack them, they’ve got their injuries as well as ours. We’ll be fully determined to walk away from there with another victory under our belts.”
RIDER OF THE NIGHT
Sayfutdinov continued his fantastic run of recent form with a 15-point haul despite the result.
WHAT IT MEANS
Ipswich remain on 29 points with the lead at the top of the table being cut to seven points following Sheffield’s win against King’s Lynn. Meanwhile, Leicester move up to 16 points to maintain their four-point gap behind Oxford in the race for the playoffs.
UP NEXT
The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches travel to Norfolk to face the King’s Lynn Stars on Thursday 25th July in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership. Tickets can be purchased on the gate.