The Ipswich Witches travel to the National Speedway Stadium tonight to take on the Belle Vue Aces in the second leg of their Sports Insure Premiership play-off semi-final tie.
The two sides met last Thursday at Foxhall and despite missing Jason Doyle and Dan Thompson through injury the Witches raced to a thumping 54-36 victory in the first leg, to give them an 18-point lead going into the deciding leg.
Belle Vue were without Charles Wright but it was a surprise result for many as the reigning champions and 2023 table-toppers fell to a heavy defeat, having won twice at Foxhall this season.
Ipswich certainly have momentum having won nine of their last 12 meetings in all competitions and lifted the Knockout Cup in that period.
The Suffolk side have been beaten on both of their visits to the National Speedway Stadium this season, 55-35 and 49-41, and despite holding a healthy lead, the tie is by no means over with the Aces more than capable of overturning the 18-point deficit.
There is good news for Ipswich fans with Doyle set to return to the side after his crash at the Danish Grand Prix forced him to miss the first leg.
Jack Smith guests again for the injured Dan Thompson in the Rising Star position and has plenty of experience at the National Speedway Stadium having raced many laps there for the Belle Vue Colts in the NDL.
Witches' boss Ritchie Hawkins said: "We need to attack from the off, I think it is going to be a very tough meeting.
"Belle Vue are going to be determined, they do not want to lose their title in the semi-final this year.
"They are very good around there, so we know we need to attack them, and we will need to fight for every point.
"We take it as a one-off meeting, we are certainly not going to be looking at an 18-point lead we have got, we have got to attack it and try and win the meeting."
BELLE VUE: 1. Brady Kurtz 8.33 (c) 2. Tom Brennan 6.16 3. Jaimon Lidsey 7.82 4. R/R for Charles Wright 6.55 5. Dan Bewley 8.00 6. Norick Blödorn 5.80 7. Connor Bailey (RS). Team Manager: Mark Lemon
IPSWICH: 1. Emil Sayfutdinov 10.14 2. Erik Riss 5.03 3. Danny King 7.03 (c) 4. Danyon Hume 4.00 5. Jason Doyle 9.21 6. Keynan Rew 4.00 7. Jack Smith (G) (RS). Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
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