IPSWICH Witches skipper Chris Louis won his sixth 16-Lapper at Foxhall Stadium last night.Louis stormed to an impressive victory in a 16-Lap final that passed off without incident.

By Mike Bacon

IPSWICH Witches skipper Chris Louis won his sixth 16-Lapper at Foxhall Stadium last night.

Louis stormed to an impressive victory in a 16-Lap final that passed off without incident.

Louis managed to leave his Witches team-mate Robert Miskowiak in his wake as the two Witches top men lined up as the leading points scorers going into the final.

Indeed it was a game of cat and mouse between the two Ipswich men from Lap 4 onwards in the final as both made their move from the back grid to take command of the field.

But while Louis marched on to another victory, Miskowiak was once again left rueing engine problems that had dogged him in exactly the same style in last year's 16-Lapper.

Indeed the former World Under-21 champion could not hide his disappointment at the end and although he finished third overall, it was clear he wanted more.

Louis, on the other hand, not only won the 16-Lap final, he also lapped almost half the field on his way to what was possibly the most decisive victory ever seen in this event.

Poole's Troy Batchelor split the Witches pairing on the rostrum, with a solid showing throughout while former Witch Marius Puszakowski also enjoyed a good night.

The qualifying heats began in dramatic fashion with defending champion Adam Shields lifting alarmingly out of the start in the first heat.

One of the pre-meeting favourites, the Australian was taken to hospital but fortunately suffered no broken bones.

That left Miskowiak and Louis to win three heats each while Jacek Rempala finished strongly and Ipswich youngster Jerran Hart also got a run out, taking the place of Shields, and doing well on his first competitive action at Foxhall.

Louis, Miskowiak, Batchelor and Jacek Rempala all started on the back grid but it was Louis who proved himself, once more, the King of the marathon meeting.

1 Batchelor, Puszakowski, Schramm, Shields (f/x) 61.0

2 Miskowiak, M Rempala, Wolbert, Vaculik 60.6

3 Louis, J Rempala, Stojanowski, Tomicek 62.0

4 Miskowiak, Batchelor, Puszakowski, J Rempala 61.0

5 Louis, M Rempala, Hart, Vaculik 61.1

6 Stojanowski, Tomicek, Wolbert, Schramm 62.4

7 J Rempala, Puszakowski, Vaculik, Stojanowski 62.5

8 Miskowiak, Tomicek, Batchelor, Hart 61.0

9 Louis, Schramm, M Rempala, Wolbert 60.7

10 Puszakowski, Tomicek, M Rempala, Hart 61.7

11 Batchelor, Stojanowski, Vaculik, Wolbert 60.7

12 J Rempala, Miskowiak, Louis, Schramm 61.7

Consolation Final (over 6 laps): Wolter, Schramm, Vaculik, Hart 93.8

16-Lap Classic Final (overall finishing positions):

1 Louis 26pts (12pts from qualifying + 14 in final).

2 Batchelor 23 (11 + 12).

3 Miskowiak 19 (13 + 6).

4 Puszakowski 16 (8 + 8) and Stojanowski 16 (6 + 10).

6 J Rempala 14 (10 + 4).

7 Tomicek 8 (6 + 2).

8 M Rempala 6 (6 + 0).

Referee: Phil Griffin

Attendance: 1,200.