Ipswich Witches 61 Peterborough Panthers 29

Ipswich Witches kept up their play-off hopes with a stunning performance against Peterborough Panthers at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday night.

The home side were in determined mood from the off against a Panthers side who are already play-off certainties.

The Witches however are not and, having now ridden all their League meetings, they have to wait for Plymouth to ride their last five meetings – the Devils need 13 points to overhaul the Suffolk side.

“When you see us ride like this you wonder how we are not already secured in the play-offs,” Witches team boss Phil Hilton said.

“We’ve attacked the track, which was a bit tricky because of the earlier heavy showers, but it was very raceable and we deserved the win.

“It’s a pity the season isn’t starting now because we are looking so good and if we get in the play-offs, then who knows what we could do.”

The Witches were certainly impressive.

Peterborough only had one race winner all night – Ipswich were just so good.

Danny King raced to a comfortable four-ride maximum but there were stars throughout the home team and this was as good a performance as the Witches have put in at Foxhall all season. Every Witch was involved in a 5-1 maximum and should they sneak into that final play-off position, they could just be the Dark Horses.

Ipswich: D King 12, C Heeps 6+2, G Manzares 7+2, R Tungate 13, N Covatti 8, S Nielsen 9+1, A Morris 6+1

Peterborough: U Ostergaard 4, E Grondal 2, R/R, M Palm Toft 9+1, B Barker 8+1, R Konopka 1, S Lambert 5+1

1 King, Heeps, Ostergaard, Grondal 58.3 5-1

2 Nielsen, Morris, Lambert, Konopka (f/x) 59.6 10-2

3 Tungate, Rondal, Palm Toft, Manzares (ex) 59.4 13-5

4 Barker, Covatti, Lambert, Morris 60.3 15-9

5 Tungate, Manzares, Ostergaard, Grondal 61.6 20-10

6 King, Barker, Heeps, Konopka 59.1 24-12

7 Covatti, Nielsen, Palm Toft, Lambert 59.7 29-13

8 Morris, Lambert, Heeps, Grondal 60.6 33-15

9 Tungate, Manzares, Konopka, Barker* (f/x) 61.3 38-16

10 King, Heeps, Palm Toft, Lambert 60.2 43-17

11 Covatti, Ostergaard, Nielsen, Grondal 59.7 47-19

12 Manzares, Palm Toft, Morris, Konopka (f/x) 60.1 51-21

13 King, Barker, Lambert, Covatti 59.1 54-24

14 Nielsen, Palm Toft, Tungate, Lambert 59.3 58-26

15 Tungate, Palm Toft, Barker, Covatti 59.6 61-29

*tac ride points count double

Ipswich 3 pts. Peterborough 0 pts.

Premier League

P Pts.

Edinburgh 22 58

Glasgow 22 50

Somerset 22 48

Sheffield 22 46

Peterborough 20 44

Ipswich 24 42

Plymouth 19 30

Workington 19 27

Newcastle 22 24

Rye House 19 21

Berwick 19 18

Redcar 21 18

Scunthorpe 19 15