Ipswich Eagles shocked the Horspath Hammers to record their first-ever victory against the Oxford outfit and join Coventry at the top of the Elite League table.

The Eagles showed their resilience, which has been lacking in previous matches this year and last, failing to lose a heat until race 11, while restricting their opponents to 5-5 shared heats and taking advantage of any Horspath mistakes.

Because of that they slowly built up a six-point lead at the half-way stage, the only negative being Ipswich’s British Under 19s champion Charlie Rumbold snapping his bike clean in half when making a pass in heat eight!

Despite a couple of controversial decisions going against the Suffolk visitors when Josh Brooke and then Jamie Chittock were both excluded, gifting Horspath a two-point lead, the Eagles kept their cool and clawed themselves level with a 6-4 heat win to bring the match all square at 93-93 with one heat to go.

When Horspath’s Mark Carmichael crossed the inside line to gain an advantage in that final race, he left the referee no option but to exclude him, gifting the Eagles a 5-4 heat win, and with it the league points, sending the Suffolk team and their supporters wild.

Ipswich’s Aussie star Cody Chadwick was able to add further gloss by beating former world champion Lucasz Nowacki in the match race trophy to complete a clean sweep for the Eagles.

It was a much-improved showing from the Ipswich outfit, sticking to their jobs and with the Hill brothers, Matt and Ashley, and Chadwick in scintillating form, they never really looked like losing.