Ipswich Witches 45 Edinburgh Monarchs 45

Ipswich ‘Sackers’ Witches dropped more home points as an inspired Craig Cook-led Edinburgh Monarchs grabbed a deserved draw at Foxhall Stadium.

In a cracking meeting that ebbed one way and then the other, the sublime Cook, who smashed his own track record in heat six, was just too good for the home team’s riders, who lost the services of Gino Manzares after a heat nine crash.

He was taken to hospital with back injuries, although not thought to be serious.

The Witches could have won this and indeed the Monarchs only took the lead in heat 12, but in the end, and with Cook in two of the final three races, a draw wasn’t a disaster as Danny King and Rohan Tungate shared heat 15 behind Cook.

Ipswich’s home continues to baffle, as they shine on the road, but at Foxhall frustrate.

They never got a grip on the meeting despite King produced a stunning opening heat and reserves Stefan Nielsen and Ashley Morris getting a comfortable 5-1 in heat two. But they lack a killer punch against the better sides and so it was on Thursday night, although if the racing is as good as this throughout the rest of the summer, with a few more Witches home wins thrown in, no-one will complain!

The Witches head to basement-side Scunthorpe tonight for a Premier League clash hoping to pick up more points in their quest to cement their play-off hopes. The Scorpions welcome Josh Auty back after a nine-week lay-off.

1 King (15m), Worrall, Sedgmen, Heeps 57.2 3-3

2 Morris, Nielsen, Clegg (15m), Greenwood 59.5 8-4

3 Tungate, Riss, Wolbert, Manzares (f) 58.8 11-7

4 Cook, Covatti, Morris, Greenwood 56.4 14-10

5 Worrall, Manzares, Sedgmen, Tungate (e/f) 58.3 16-14

6 Cook, King, Heeps, Clegg 56.0 19-17. New track record

7 Covatti, Wolbert, Riss, Nielsen 58.6 22-20

8 Sedgmen, Heeps, Morris, Greenwood 58.4 25-23

9 Cook, Tungate, Clegg, Manzares (f/x) 57.7 27-27

10 King, Heeps, Riss, Wolbert 58.1 32-28

11 Sedgmen, Worrall, Covatti, Nielsen 58.9 33-33

12 Wolbert, Clegg, Morris, Nieslen (15m) 59.2 34-38

13 Cook, King, Covatti, Worrall 58.3 34-38

14 Tungate, Morris, Riss, Clegg 59.5 42-42

15 Cook, King, Tungate, Sedgemen 58.5 45-45

Ipswich 1 pts. Edinburgh 2 pts.

Ipswich: D King 12, C Heeps 5+2, G Manzares 2, R Tungate 9+1, N Covatti 7, S Nielsen 2+1, A Morris 8+3

Edinburgh: R Worrall 7+1, J Sedgmen 8, K Wolbert 6+1, E Riss 5+1, C Cook 15, M Clegg 4+1, D Greenwood 0

Premier League

P Pts.

Edinburgh 13 35

Peterborough 13 33

Somerset 12 31

Sheffield 15 31

Glasgow 13 27

Ipswich 15 23

Berwick 12 17

Redcar 14 15

Rye House 11 15

Newcastle 14 12

Workington 10 12

Plymouth 11 11

Scunthorpe 13 9