The Ipswich Witches recorded victory again in the East Anglian derby as they overcame King’s Lynn 51-39 at Foxhall in the Premiership last night.
The home team were using rider replacement for Keynan Rew but were still heavy favourites against a patched-up Stars side.
However, a heat two crash for Dan Thompson saw him withdrawn with a dislocated shoulder, leaving the Witches with just five men and up against it for the rest of the meeting.
The Suffolk side battled on though and still had too much for the Norfolk side as they made it five wins on the spin. Emil Sayfutdinov top scored with 13+1.
Witches boss Ritchie Hawkins said: "I am delighted with the effort shown by the five remaining riders and the seven mechanics that worked their socks off to keep the boys on track.
"It was an amazing effort in the pits by all twelve of them and I couldn’t have asked for more, I am delighted with them.
"The loss of Dan in heat two was a massive blow to us with us already using rider replacement.
"It has been confirmed on x-ray that he has dislocated his shoulder. We will know more about the damage in the coming days.
"To pick up an injury when you are hitting the best form of your life is really disappointing for him.
"Hopefully it isn’t too severe, he is young, and I know he will work hard to make sure he recovers as quickly as he can. He will come back stronger.
"There was a lot of dirt on the track and some riders struggle to ride a speedway track with dirt on nowadays, that makes it difficult for them.
"Our boys dealt with it well and there was lots of incidents and good racing.
"That makes it five wins in a row, but we can’t get carried away with that.
"We have another important meeting next week that we need to win away from home to keep the pressure on everyone and then we will go to Wolves the following week."
IPSWICH 51: Emil Sayfutdinov 13+1, Keynan Rew R/R, Danny King (c) 9+1, Erik Riss 9+2, Jason Doyle 10, Danyon Hume 10+1, Dan Thompson (RS) (Withdrawn). Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
KING’S LYNN 39: Artem Laguta 2, Thomas Jorgensen R/R, Benjamin Basso (G) 6+1, Connor Mountain (G) 3+1, Nicolai Klindt (c) 15, Simon Lambert 10+2, Sam Hagon (G) (RS) 3+2. Team Manager: David Hoggart
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