Ipswich Witches 61 Redcar Bears 32

The smiles were back at Foxhall Stadium on Saturday night, as Ipswich Witches raced to their biggest victory of the season.

Led by skipper Danny King and excellent guest Ryan Douglas, who both raced to paid maximums, the home side at last managed to express themselves with a competent performance against Redcar Bears, running out 61-32 winners.

The final scoreline reflected the dominance of the home side who produced all but three heat winners – and eight 5-1 maximum heat victories.

“It was a solid performance, every rider being involved well in it,” team boss Ritchie Hawkins said after the meeting.

“Ryan (Douglas) has been an awesome guest and the team spirit all night, from the moment we got here, has been so good, the best I’ve seen it this season.

“Hopefully the fans went home happy. I’m sure they did. They deserve this as much as the riders do because we haven’t been good enough on too many occasions this season.

“But they have stuck with us and we really appreciate it.

More from Ritchie, Paco Castagna and Danny King in Monday’s Ipswich Star paper + a two-page picture spread from Steve Waller.

Heat details

1 King, Bjerre, Sarjeant, Bukhave 57.3 4-2

2 Nielsen, Payne, Castagna, Greenwood 60.0 5-7

3 Douglas, Risager, Nielsen, Bellego (f/x) no time 10-8

4 Covatti, Andersen, Greenwood, Payne 60.1 14-10

5 Douglas, Bjerre, Bukhave, Risager 59.6 17-13

6 King, Sarjeant, Andersen, Nielsen 57.5 22-14

7 Covatti, Castagna, Payne, Bellego 61.0 27-15

8 Sarjeant, Castagna, Payne, Bukhave 58.8 32-16

9 Risager, Douglas, Nielsen, Andersen (exc) no time 37-17

10 King, Sarjeant, Andersen, Bellego 58.6 42-18

11 Bjerre*, Covatti, Nielsen, Greenwood 59.2 44-25

12 Bellego, Risager, Nielsen, Castagna 59.8 46-29

13 Covatti, King, Bjerre, Andersen 58.7 51-30

14 Douglas, Greenwood, Nielsen, Bellego 56-31 58.7

15 King, Covatti, Andersen, Bjerre 58.5 61-32

*tac ride points count double

Ipswich 3 pts. Redcar 0 pts.

Scorers

Ipswich: D King 14+1, J Sarjeant 8+2, M Risager 7+1, R Douglas 11+1, N Covatti 13+1, P Castagna 5+2, O Greenwood 3+1

Redcar: L Bjerre 11, J Bukhave 1+1, R/R, D Bellego 3, J Andersen 5, S Nielsen 8, L Payne 4+1