Ipswich Witches 60 Berwick Bandits 34

Ipswich ‘Sackers’ Witches were in brilliant form at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday night with a resounding victory over play-off challengers Berwick Bandits.

Aggressive, hard-riding and hugely committed, the Suffolk side were in no mood to slip up in front of a healthy summer crowd who lapped up the action as the home side topped 60 points.

This was as good as it gets for the Foxhall faithful with some superb racing and thrilling action.

“It was a good all-round performance and every rider did their job,” Witches team manager Brian Messenger said.

“We got stuck in from the off and all the 50/50s, we won all of them.

“We coped without Gino (Manzares) which we thought would be tough and our reserves were great.”

Berwick arrived in town with one of the best away records in the Premier League, but they were swept away by an Ipswich team who chucked the works at them.

Looking for Witches star men on the track was like looking for trees in a wood. But there is little doubt the excellent form of reserves Cameron Heeps and Adam Ellis was a huge plus for the Suffolk side.

Their contribution was immense but they were not alone. Rohan Tungate was man-of-the-meeting with some imperious gating, while Morten Risager, skipper Ritchie Hawkins and Richie Worrall were all strong throughout.

On Friday the Witches travel to Somerset in the Premier League.

Richie Worrall flew out to be with the Team GB squad this morning, Lewis Blackbird was set to guest for Worrall but was injured last night, leaving the Witches looking for a replacement.

Gino Manzares is back in the team after the USA did not qualify from last night’s World Cup Race-Off. Manzares failed to score from his five rides.

1 Vissing, Hawkins, Worrall, Bellego 57.1 3-3

2 Ellis, Heeps, Kus, Carr 57.8 8-4

3 Jensen, Hawkins, Risager, Wethers 58.4 11-7

4 Tungate, Kus, Doolan, Ellis 58.5 14-10

5 Risager, Hawkins, Vissing, Bellego 58.3 19-11

6 Ellis, Worrall, Doolan, Carr 58.0 24-12

7 Tungate, Jensen*, Heeps, Wethers 58.5 28-16

8 Tungate, Ellis, Bellego, Kus 58.8 33-17

9 Risager, Doolan, Hawkins, Carr 59.0 37-19

10 Worrall, Jensen, Heeps, Wethers 58.3 41-21

11 Tungate, Vissing*, Bellego, Ellis 59.0 44-26

12 Risager, Heeps, Kus, Jensen 59.5 49-27

13 Vissing, Worrall, Tungate, Doolan 59.2 52-30

14 Heeps, Kus, Hawkins, Wethers 59.8 56-32

15 Risager, Jensen, Worrall, Vissing 59.6 60-34

*tac ride points count double

Ipswich 3 pts. Berwick 0 pts.

Ipswich: R Worrall 9+2, R/R, M Risager 13+1, R Hawkins 8+1, R Tungate 13+1, C Heeps 9+2, A Ellis 8+1

Berwick: C Vissing 11, D Bellego 2+1, S Jensen 11, M Wethers 0, K Doolan 4+1, L Carr 0, M Kus 6.