IPSWICH Witches pair Scott Nicholls and Daniel King failed to qualify from the heats of Saturday night’s 2010 Elite League Pairs Championship at Foxhall Stadium.

Watched by a bumper crowd on a night when the action did not come to life until the semi-final stage the home duo were left trailing in heat 18 when a good result would have seen them reach the semi-final stage.

“We both made terrible starts,” said King. “And it turned out to be one of those nights again.”

The meeting was won by rampant Coventry who beat holders Poole in the final.

It turned out to be a big night for Witches junior Joe Jacobs, who was meeting reserve and rode in the semi-final for Lakeside after Jonas Davidsson damaged his thumb when he took a tumble when attempting to slow down after clinching a top four place in heat 17.

“It was a shock to get the call to ride in such an important race,” said the youngster who rode for Mildenhall before they withdrew from the National League.

READ FULL REPORT IN MONDAY’S East Anglian Daily Times and Evening Star with an Ipswich official slamming the withdrawal of so many star names from the field, and an BSPA official bemoaning the lack of passing in the heats.

Scores

Qualifying points: 1 Coventry 26 (Krzysztof Kasprzak 3-3*-4-4 14/Chris Harris 2*-4-3*-3* 12), 2 Poole 23 (Chris Holder 3*-4-0-4 11/Bjarne Pedersen 4-3*-2-3* 12), 3 Lakeside 22 (Adam Shields 4-3-2*-3* 12/Jonas Davidsson 3*-0-3-4 10), 4 Peterborough 20 (Kenneth Bjerre 4-4-2*-exc unfair riding 10/Niels-Kristian Iversen fell-3*-3-4 10), 5 Swindon 18 (Mads Korneliussen 3*-2*-0-2 7/Grzegorz Zengota 4-3-4-0 11), 6 Ipswich 17 (Scott Nicholls f/exc-2-4-2 8/Danny King 2-4-3*-0 9), 7 Wolves 15 (Nicolai Klindt 2-4-2-4 12/Joe Haines 0-0-0-3* 3), 8 Eastbourne 13 (Ricky Kling ret-2-3-4 9/Cameron Woodward 2-ret-2*-fell exc 4), 9 Belle Vue 8 (Filip Sitera 2-0-0-0 2/James Wright 0-2-2-2 6).

Heat details

1: Pedersen, Holder, King, Nicholls (fell excluded), 58.6.

2: Bjerre, Kasprzak, Harris, Iversen (fell), 58.3.

3: Zengota, Korneliussen, Sitera, Wright, 59.5.

4: Holder, Pedersen, Woodward, Kling (retired), 58.9.

5: Bjerre, Iversen, Klindt, Haines, 58.7.

6: Shields, Davidsson, Wright, Sitera, 59.7.

7: Harris, Kasprzak, Kling, Woodward (retired), 58.4.

8: Klindt, Zengota, Korneliussen, Haines, 59.0.

9: King, Shields, Nicholls, Davidsson, 60.1.

10: Kasprzak, Harris, Pedersen, Holder, 59.7.

11: Zengota, Iversen, Bjerre, Korneliussen, 59.7.

12: Nicholls, King, Wright, Sitera, 59.8.

13: Iversen, Kling, Woodward, Bjerre (excluded unfair riding), 59.9.

14: Holder, Pedersen, Klindt, Haines, 60.5.

15: Kling, Davidsson, Shields, Woodward (fell excluded), 60.0.

16: Kasprzak, Harris, Wright, Sitera, 60.2.

17: Davidsson, Shields, Korneliussen, Zengota, 60.7.

18: Klindt, Haines, Nicholls, King, 60.2.

Semi-final: Harris, Kasprzak, Iversen, Bjerre, 60.1.

Semi-final: Holder, Pedersen, Shields, Jacobs, Davidsson (non-starter, injured) 59.5.

Final: Kasprzak, Harris, Holder, Pedersen, 60.3.