Ipswich Witches 61 Peterborough Panthers 29
Ipswich Witches kept up their play-off hopes with a stunning performance against Peterborough Panthers at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday night.
The home side were in determined mood from the off against a Panthers side who are already play-off certainties.
The Witches however are not and, having now ridden all their League meetings, they have to wait for Plymouth to ride their last five meetings – the Devils need 13 points to overhaul the Suffolk side.
“When you see us ride like this you wonder how we are not already secured in the play-offs,” Witches team boss Phil Hilton said.
“We’ve attacked the track, which was a bit tricky because of the earlier heavy showers, but it was very raceable and we deserved the win.
“It’s a pity the season isn’t starting now because we are looking so good and if we get in the play-offs, then who knows what we could do.”
The Witches were certainly impressive.
Peterborough only had one race winner all night – Ipswich were just so good.
Danny King raced to a comfortable four-ride maximum but there were stars throughout the home team and this was as good a performance as the Witches have put in at Foxhall all season. Every Witch was involved in a 5-1 maximum and should they sneak into that final play-off position, they could just be the Dark Horses.
Ipswich: D King 12, C Heeps 6+2, G Manzares 7+2, R Tungate 13, N Covatti 8, S Nielsen 9+1, A Morris 6+1
Peterborough: U Ostergaard 4, E Grondal 2, R/R, M Palm Toft 9+1, B Barker 8+1, R Konopka 1, S Lambert 5+1
1 King, Heeps, Ostergaard, Grondal 58.3 5-1
2 Nielsen, Morris, Lambert, Konopka (f/x) 59.6 10-2
3 Tungate, Rondal, Palm Toft, Manzares (ex) 59.4 13-5
4 Barker, Covatti, Lambert, Morris 60.3 15-9
5 Tungate, Manzares, Ostergaard, Grondal 61.6 20-10
6 King, Barker, Heeps, Konopka 59.1 24-12
7 Covatti, Nielsen, Palm Toft, Lambert 59.7 29-13
8 Morris, Lambert, Heeps, Grondal 60.6 33-15
9 Tungate, Manzares, Konopka, Barker* (f/x) 61.3 38-16
10 King, Heeps, Palm Toft, Lambert 60.2 43-17
11 Covatti, Ostergaard, Nielsen, Grondal 59.7 47-19
12 Manzares, Palm Toft, Morris, Konopka (f/x) 60.1 51-21
13 King, Barker, Lambert, Covatti 59.1 54-24
14 Nielsen, Palm Toft, Tungate, Lambert 59.3 58-26
15 Tungate, Palm Toft, Barker, Covatti 59.6 61-29
*tac ride points count double
Ipswich 3 pts. Peterborough 0 pts.
Premier League
P Pts.
Edinburgh 22 58
Glasgow 22 50
Somerset 22 48
Sheffield 22 46
Peterborough 20 44
Ipswich 24 42
Plymouth 19 30
Workington 19 27
Newcastle 22 24
Rye House 19 21
Berwick 19 18
Redcar 21 18
Scunthorpe 19 15
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