The Ipswich Witches beat the Wolverhampton Wolves 47-43 after a last-heat decider at Foxhall in the Premiership last night.
The hosts were returning to action after a two-week break and were at full strength for the clash with Wolves drafting in Scott Nicholls for the injured Luke Becker as both sides started the second half of their league campaign.
There was little to separate the two sides throughout although it could have been a more comfortable night for the home team with several crashes proving costly. Things were all level going into heat 15 as Jason Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov secured the victory with a maximum, both riders top scoring with 13+1.
Wolves went in front in heat one as Sam Masters held Sayfutdinov at bay to win with Steve Worrall in third for a 2-4.
The visitors doubled their lead in heat two as Zach Cook took victory ahead of Danyon Hume and Dan Thompson fell on the final lap coming out of the second turn whilst in third, resulting in the heat advantage to Wolves.
Danny King produced a fine first and second turn to win heat three as the points were shared.
There was action at the front and back in heat four as firstly Hume nipped up the inside of Leon Flint to take third and at the front Doyle stalked leader Rory Schlein before diving under the Wolves man late on in the race to hit the front.
That meant a 4-2 to Ipswich but they found themselves 11-13 down after the opening heats.
King won heat five comfortably and Keynan Rew worked hard to get past Worrall for a point to level the overall score.
The Witches looked set for a 5-1 in heat six with Sayfutdinov and Erik Riss at the front, but Riss hit the air fence on the final lap after getting out of shape on the second turn, resulting in a 3-3.
Doyle won a shared heat seven before Wolverhampton edged back in front in heat eight as Worrall passed Riss to win, giving his side a 2-4 to put them 23-25 in front.
Ipswich then went in front in heat nine as King and Rew roared to a 5-1 and Sayfutdinov picked up three points in heat 10 in a 3-3.
Heat 11 was awarded with Masters leading Doyle as Thompson fell at the end of the second lap whilst in third.
That handed the away side a 2-4, a decision met with boos from the home crowd. Wolves guest Nicholls won heat 12 as the points were shared, leaving it level at 36-36 with three to race.
Sayfutdinov and Doyle put the Suffolk side in the driving seat with a big 5-1 in heat 13 but it was cancelled out in heat 14 as the away side hit back with a maximum despite Hume’s best efforts to split the Wolves pair.
With everything riding on heat 15, it was Doyle and Sayfutdinov who once again produced the goods, racing to a maximum that handed Ipswich an important win on home shale in their quest for the play-offs.
Witches' boss Ritchie Hawkins said: "We got the win in the end, we needed to get the two points on the board.
"I am disappointed we didn’t win by more. I felt we should have won by more than that, but we put ourselves in a position where we could have lost again.
"We are in July now and really we need to do better but we got away with one tonight.
"We are not going to keep getting away with them, we have been punished before."
The Witches, who stay in fifth place, now head to the side just above them, the Sheffield Tigers, on Monday night.
IPSWICH 47: Emil Sayfutdinov 13+1, Erik Riss 2, Danny King (c) 11, Keynan Rew 3+1, Jason Doyle 13+1, Danyon Hume 5+1, Dan Thompson (RS) 0. Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
WOLVERHAMPTON 43: Sam Masters (c) 9, Steve Worrall 5, Scott Nicholls (G) 9+1, Ryan Douglas 7+2, Rory Schlein 5, Zach Cook 4+1, Leon Flint (RS) 4+1. Team Manager: Peter Adams
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