Ipswich Witches 41 Wolverhampton Wolves 37 Meeting abandoned after heat 13. Result stands.
Ipswich Witches got through a stormy night at Foxhall to move back into second place in the Premiership after beating Wolverhampton 41-37.
The meeting was abandoned with two races to go as the Witches doggedly held off the Wolves, with Pole Kristian Pieszczek the hero with heat wins in races 11 and 13 to help the Suffolk side to victory.
The track was getting worse as the meeting wore on and it was called at the right time.
It leaves the Witches second in the table and in a good position for a play-off place.
This had all the potential to be tricky for Ipswich as Wolves ride the Foxhall track well. But again Ipswich's battling qualities shown through again.
"It was a slow start and it felt very much like the way it went two weeks ago," said Witches team boss Ritchie Hawkins.
"With the rain coming, you don't want to be two points down after heat 10. A couple of the boys stepped up, Cam (Heeps) was brilliant, and he had all his heats early and his contributions kept us ahead.
"Krystian (Pieszczek) struggled to start with but then suddenly came up with two important wins. We turned it around in the end, but I was a bit disappointed with how we started, and it is something we talked about after the meeting."
Ipswich, who lost their last home meeting against Poole two weeks ago, indeed didn't start well and it wasn't until Jake Allen took the chequered flag in heat four did they take a first place.
But it was Wolves in the early stages before Ipswich took the lead in heat eight for the second time in the meeting and never looked back, the team again showing their hugely determined qualities.
Witches No.1 Chris Harris didn't get much past the first turn before suffering engine problems in heat one, as Cameron Heeps passed Ryan Douglas for second as Wolves took an early lead.
There was movement at the start of heat two but referee Chris Durno let it go and Kyle Howarth streaked away.
Edward Kennett dived under Luke Becker to get Jake Allen through for a shared race.
Jacob Thorssell led heat three before Richard Lawson passed him down the backstraight in heat three. Danny King went to go round Thorssell but fell and was excluded.
King was not happy with the decision, nor were the crowd.
In the re-run it looked like a Wolves 5-1 until Nick Morris slid to a halt on the final bend, gifting Richard Lawson second place.
Allen who only got to the track 10 minutes before start time after breaking down en-route, won the Witches first heat of the night in heat four after a great tussle with Sam Masters.
King shot from the start in heat six as Ipswich pulled two points ahead and as the rain came down the Witches took the lead as Heeps passed Masters to join Harris at the front.
Neither Pieszczek nor Kennett got much further than turn two on the slippery track as Wolves hit straight back.
The meeting was moving apace because of the rain threat and Heeps and Allen delighted the home fans gating to the front in heat eight. It was topsy-turvey stuff as the lead changed hands for the third time in three heats.
It was a ferocious first turn in heat 10 with Lawson pushing both Wolves out as King got squeezed out in a shared race.
Heeps was the Witches leading light and he led the way home again. But Harris was at the back as the Witches held onto their slender lead.
Krystian Pieszczek hadn't troubled the scorers until he shot from the start to lower Schlein's colours in heat 11. For a time Kennett was into third but he couldn't make it stick.
King flew from the start in the next as the lightning flashed around Foxhall and when Pieszczek slithered to victory in heat 13, the meeting was rightly called to a halt.
Scorers
Ipswich: C Harris 3+1, C Heeps 11, D King 6, R Lawson 6+1, K Pieszczek 7, E Kennett 2, J Allen 6+2
Wolves: R Schlein 7, R Douglas 1, J Thorssell 9, N Morris 5+1, S Masters 7, K Howarth 7+4, L Becker 1.
Heat details
1 Schlein, Heeps, Douglas, Harris (r) 56.3 2-4
2 Howarth, Kennett, Allen, Becker 56.9 5-7
3 Thorssell, Lawson, Morris, King (f/x) 56.6 7-11
4 Allen, Masters, Howarth, Pieszczek 56.7 10-14
5 King, Schlein, Lawson, Douglas 56.8 14-16
6 Heeps, Harris, Masters, Becker 57.3 19-17
7 Morris, Thorssell, Pieszczek, Kennett (r) 58.5 20-22
8 Heeps, Allen, Becker, Douglas (f) 57.6 25-23
9 Lawson, Masters, Howarth, King 57.5 28-26
10 Heeps, Thorssell, Morris, Harris 56.6 31-29
11 Pieszczek, Schlein, Howarth, Kennett 57.6 34-32
12 King, Thorssell, Howarth, Allen 58.1 37-35
13 Pieszczek, Masters, Harris, Schlein 62.0 41-37
Meeting abandoned after heat 13, result stands
Ipswich 3 pts. Wolves 1 pt.
Premiership
P Pts
Poole 15 33
Ipswich 16 33
Belle Vue 17 31
Swindon 14 24
Wolves 15 22
King's Lynn 15 19
Peterborough 16 17
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