By Henry Chard

QUALIFYING SCORES

PETERBOROUGH 33: Ben Cook 8, Richie Worrall 23, Jordan Jenkins (RS) 2. Team Manager: Rob Lyon

BELLE VUE 32: Dan Bewley 20,Brady Kurtz 12, Jake Mulford (RS) 0. Team Manager: Mark Lemon

SHEFFIELD 29: Jack Holder 16, Tobiasz Musielak 13, Dan Gilkes (RS) 0. Team Manager: Simon Stead

LEICESTER 26: Max Fricke 19, Justin Sedgmen 2, Drew Kemp (RS) 5. Team Manager: Stewart Dickson

IPSWICH 26: Erik Riss 8, Danny King 18, Dan Thompson (RS) 0. Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins

KING’S LYNN 22: Nicolai Klindt 22, Thomas Jorgensen 0, Anders Rowe (RS) 0. Team Manager: David Hoggart

WOLVES 21: Sam Masters 5, Steve Worrall 16, Leon Flint (RS) 0. Team Manager: Peter Adams

SEMI-FINAL: Kurtz, Bewley, Holder, Musielak– 7-2 to Belle Vue

FINAL: Kurtz, Bewley, Worrall, Cook – 7-2 to Belle Vue

REFEREE: P. Griffin

THE STORY

The Ipswich ‘Tru Mix’ Witches pairing of Danny King and Erik Riss just fell short of the semi-final at Leicester on Thursday night in the Sports Insure Premiership Pairs.

The Suffolk side went into the meeting as reigning champions but were without their top two Jason Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov for this event with Doyle having to ride for his Polish club in a re-arranged fixture which took priority and Sayfutdinov not contracted to ride. However, skipper King and Riss were right in the mix throughout and were on course for the semi-final until a controversial exclusion for Riss in heat 19 ended their hopes of silverware. Belle Vue took the title on the night.

King won heat one from the gate ahead of Nicolai Klindt and Riss hung on for two points in third to give the Witches a 6-3 over King’s Lynn.

Ipswich continued their strong start in heat five as King took victory again and was followed home by Riss for a 7-2 maximum over Wolverhampton.

Team manager Ritchie Hawkins brought in Rising Star Dan Thompson in heat nine for his compulsory ride against hosts Leicester. Fricke took the chequered flag ahead of King with Sedgmen third for a 6-3 to the Lions.

Belle Vue’s Dan Bewley won heat 12 by a distance but with Riss and King in second and third it was a 5-4 heat advantage to the Witches over the Aces.

The Sheffield duo of Jack Holder and Tobiasz Musielak raced to a 7-2 over the Witches pair in heat 16.

There was drama in heat 19 with Ipswich coming up against Peterborough but the race was stopped on the first lap. Richie Worrall came up the inside of Riss going into the third turn with the German hitting the fence. Replays showed Worrall making contact with the Witches man, but the referee decided to exclude the Ipswich man to the bemusement of many. Worrall won the re-run as the Panthers claimed a 6-3, a result that ended Ipswich’s night.

Belle Vue saw off Sheffield in the semi-final before they sealed the title by beating Peterborough in the final.

REACTION FROM THE BOSS

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

“I thought it was a decent performance and we were leading for most of the qualifying heats and then made a hash of the fifth qualifying race and it put the pressure on the last one. I felt it was pretty clear on the BSN coverage that Erik had his leg taken but the ref said he fell over on his own.

“Danny started the meeting flying, he was making such good gates and that is brilliant to see for everyone. Erik improved every race and by the end of the meeting looked like his old self, I was pleased with the boys. Dan did well in his ride and got stuck in and I can’t fault the team. It was one of those incidents that could have gone the other way and we could have been in the semi-final and then who knows what would have happened.

“I suppose Belle Vue would have been pre-meeting favourites and in the semi-final, they looked really good. In a sense it was good to see Peterborough do well, which was a turn up for the books. They took a lot of criticism before the start of the meeting and then won the qualifying heats; it goes to show there is a lot more to racing than what is on paper and people’s opinions.”

UP NEXT

The Ipswich ‘Tru Mix’ Witches host the Wolverhampton Wolves at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday 6^th July in the Sports Insure Premiership. Tickets can be purchased online in advance here and on the gate.