Ipswich Witches skipper Ritchie Hawkins suffered an opening-night injury blow as Australian Rory Schlein befittingly won the Billy Sanders Memorial meeting at Foxhall Stadium last night.

Hawkins was thrown over the handlebars in an horrific-looking heat two crash, suffering rib injuries that threaten to rule him out of the early weeks of the season.

“I feel so winded and I’m sure I’ve broken or cracked a rib or two,” a clearly in pain, Hawkins said.

“I must be a doubt for Rye House on Saturday and quite honestly the way I feel right now, it could be a week or so longer before I’m back on a bike.

“I don’t know what happened, my front wheel just seemed to go from under me as I went into the first bend. It’s a disappointing start for me.”

While Hawkins was left to rue his bad luck, Schlein was again showing his liking for the Foxhall track, dropping his only point to Rohan Tungate in heat 11 and winning a thrilling last race to take the title.

It was a close meeting throughout on a freezing night at Foxhall and although early crashes to Hawkins and then Adam Ellis put a dampener on proceedings, the racing picked up and was competitive throughout.

Scorers

Rory Schlein 14, Lasse Bjerre 13, Danny King 10, Kevin Doolan 9, Gino Manzares 9, Josh Grajczonek 9, Robert Lambert 9, Ben Barker 8, Rohan Tungate 8, Cameron Heeps 8, Ricky Wells 7, Nico Covatti 6, Morten Risager 6, Stefan Nielsen 3, Ritchie Hakwins 0, Adam Ellis 0

1 Bjerre, Tungate, Nielsen, Barker 58.5

2 King, Doolan, Covatti, Hawkins (f/ns) 58.1

3 Manzares, Grajczonek, Wells, Risager 59.1

4 Schlein, Lambert, Heeps, Ellis (f/x) 58.2

5 King, Manzares, Heeps, Nielsen 58.0

6 Schlein, Bjerre, Grajczonek, Doolan 58.2

7 Wells, Covatti, Tungate (15m), Ellis (ret) 59.1

8 Barker, Risager, Lambert. 3 riders only 59.7

9 Lambert, Doolan, Wells, Nielsen (f) 58.7

10 Bjerre, Risager, King. 3 riders only 59.0

11 Tungate, Schlein, Manzares. 3 riders only 58.6

12 Grajczonek, Barker, Heeps, Covatti 59.3

13 Schlein, Covatti, Risager, Nielsen 58.8

14 Heeps, Bjerre, Wells. 3 riders only 59.8

15 Lambert, Tungate, King, Grajczonek 59.2

16 Barker, Doolan, Manzares. 3 riders only 59.6

17 Grajczonek, Nielsen. 2 riders only 59.6

18 Bjerre, Manzares, Covatti, Lambert 59.3

19 Doolan, Heeps, Risager, Tungate (15m) 59.7

20 Schlein, King, Wells, Barker 59.4