The Ipswich Witches were beaten 51-39 by Sheffield in the Premiership last night.
Having won 47-43 in Suffolk earlier in the season, the Ipswich side held a slender lead with regards to the aggregate bonus point and there was little to separate the two sides early on with just two points between them after six races.
However, the home team then went through the gears and showed their strength on home shale as they raced away for convincing victory.
Emil Sayfutdinov top scored for the Witches with a sublime 14+1 paid maximum.
Tobiasz Musielak won a shared heat one from the gate before the Tigers went ahead in heat two with a 5-1.
The points were shared in heat three before Sayfutdinov won heat four ahead of Jack Holder and Dan Thompson picked up a point for a Witches 2-4 that made it 13-11.
Jason Doyle won a shared heat five by a distance after an impressive blast around the outside of the opening two turns.
Sayfutdinov glided to victory in heat six in another 3-3 but Sheffield then hit a maximum in heat seven to extend their lead.
The hosts then recorded another 5-1 in heat eight to give them a 29-19 lead.
Team manager Ritchie Hawkins brought in Doyle as a tactical substitute in heat nine and he and Sayfutdinov worked together for a convincing maximum to reduce the deficit.
Musielak won heat 10 as Danny King did well to pass Lewis Kerr for second but Ben Barker couldn’t find a way past Kerr, meaning a 4-2 to Sheffield.
Doyle recorded another impressive victory in a shared heat 11 before the Tigers hit another 5-1 in heat 12 to put them on the brink of victory with a 42-30 lead.
Sayfutdinov continued his perfect night with another win in heat 13 but with Doyle at the back it was a 3-3 which confirmed the victory for the home team.
The South Yorkshire side also wrapped up the bonus point in heat 14 with a maximum.
Sayfutdinov completed his paid maximum with a win in heat 15 and he was followed home by Doyle for a Witches maximum, but it was little consolation as Ipswich went home empty-handed.
Witches' boss Ritchie Hawkins said: "I felt in the first half of the meeting we were right in it, and we could kick on and give ourselves a good chance by the end of the meeting, but we didn’t, and we went the other way.
"It is easy to see from the score chart where we were lacking, we didn’t have any back up for our top two.
“Emil’s first visit to Sheffield and quite clearly, he took a liking to it straight away. He is in great from and loving life at the minute. It is great to see, and he is a joy to watch."
He added: "I think we will be stronger in the second half of the season but that needs to start now.
"The improvement needs to start from here on in and we have got a big second half of the season to reach the play-offs.
"I think we will be stronger now going forward, Keynan has been to most of the tracks now and is gaining experience and learning all of the time and I think he will kick on in the second half of the season as well as Danyon.
"Danyon isn’t far off making another step up, so going forward we will be stronger to back the top two up, who are clearly the best riders in the league at the moment.”
SHEFFIELD 51: Tobiasz Musielak 9+1, Lewis Kerr 5+1, Adam Ellis 8+1, David Bellego 5+1, Jack Holder 9, Kyle Howarth (c) 10+4, Dan Gilkes (RS) 5+1. Team Manager: Simon Stead
IPSWICH 39: Jason Doyle 13+1, Danyon Hume 2+1, Danny King (c) 5+1, Ben Barker 2, Emil Sayfutdinov 14+1 (Paid Maximum), Keynan Rew 0, Dan Thompson (RS) 3. Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here