IPSWICH ‘Sackers’ Witches had a tough time in Somerset on Friday night, when they were comfortably defeated by the Rebels.

IPSWICH ‘Sackers’ Witches had a tough time in Somerset on Friday night, when they were comfortably defeated by the Rebels.

Eight points down after just two races the visitors tried to hang onto their hosts, but a couple of maximums for the home side mid-meeting left the Suffolk side with a mountain they were unable to climb.

Ben Barker, Rohan Tungate, – the Witches’ man of the meeting – Morten Risager and Cameron Heeps all won a heat apiece, but the Witches simply did not have the firepower, or strength in depth, to compete on a regular basis with a powerful-looking home team.

Witches skipper Leigh Lanham had a night to forget, suffering a fall in his opening ride – for which he received treatment to a hand injury – before an exclusion in his third race when he tried to get between the home pairing and Kyle Newman fell.

The Ipswich riders were starting well enough but in race after race the home side swooped past on the fast Oaktree Arena raceway.

They did enjoy a consolation 5-1 in heat 14, when Heeps and Risager led home the Rebels Tom Perry and Kyle Newman, but by then the thought of the Witches taking any points from the clash had long gone.

Team manager Pete Simmons used Barker and Tungate for tactical rides in heats five and 12, with both finishing in second places and the two heat advantages these achieved only served to briefly hold the home side’s progress.

All in all it was a poor showing for the Witches riders and it will have been a long journey home for riders, officials and fans.

Scorers

Somerset: J Doyle 12, A Davies 11+2, J Grajczonek 11+1, K Newman 4+1, N Morris 8+2, T Perry 5+1, S Nielsen 6+1

Ipswich: B Barker 9, J Makinen 1+1, R Tungate 10, M Risager 6+1, L Lanham 3, A Ellis 1, C Heeps 7+1

1 Doyle, Davies, Barker, Makinen; 58.5 5-1

2 Perry, Nielsen, Heeps, Ellis (f/ex) awarded 10-2

3 Risager, Newman, Tungate, Grajczonek (Fell); 59.7 12-6

4 Nielsen, Morris, Lanham, Heeps; 59.6 17-7

5 Grajczonek, Barker^, Makinen, Newman; 59.4 20-12

6 Doyle, Lanham, Davies, Ellis; 58.9 24-14

7 Tungate, Morris, Risager, Perry; 59.0 26-18

8 Davies, Heeps, Nielsen, Makinen; 58.8 30-20

9 Grajczonek, Newman, Ellis, Lanham (EX); awarded 35-21

10 Doyle, Davies, Tungate, Risager; 58.6 40-22

11 Barker, Morris, Perry, Makinen 58.9 43-25

12 Grajczonek, Tungate^, Heeps, Nielsen; 59.4 46-30

13 Doyle, Morris, Barker, Lanham; 59.5 51-31

14 Heeps, Risager, Perry, Newman; 59.5 52-36

15 Davies, Grajczonek, Tungate, Barker; 60.1 57-37