Ipswich Witches 41 Scunthorpe Scorpions 48

As opening nights go, this wasn’t what the doctor ordered for Ipswich Witches.

Visitors Scunthorpe Scorpions came, saw and stung the home side into submission with an impressive display of gating that the home side had little answer to.

From the second race onwards, the visitors from Lincolnshire hit the first bend first and, as the meeting progressed, one was left feeling there was ever only going to be one winner – and so it proved.

In the end Scunthorpe had the meeting wrapped up with three races to go and no-one could begrudge them the victory.

OK, early days, and no-one is getting overly concerned by this Ipswich performance. But an old failing – failure to make starts – proved crucial for the home side.

The fact neither James Sarjeant nor Paco Castagna beat an opponent will also have been a concern for Ritchie Hawkins and the Foxhall management.

However, on the plus side, Danny King, Nico Covatti and Morten Risager were all to the fore, and Lewis Kerr looked better than his five points suggested, while Alex Davies was excellent for the solid visitors.

Another concern for the Foxhall outfit saw Risager off to hospital for x-rays after damaging his foot.

There was plenty of practice on track from many of the home riders too after the meeting and they will hope to put it right in the return leg at Scunthorpe on Sunday.

Ipswich: D King 14, J Sarjeant 0, L Kerr 5, M Risager 10, N Covatti 8, P Castagna 0, D Ritchings 4

Scunthorpe: J Auty 6+2, N Klindt 6+1, A Davies 13, Z Holub 5+1, R Douglas 7+1, C Wilkinson 9+2, J Bailey 2+1

1 King, Auty, Klindt, Sarjeant (f) 60.0 3-3

2 Wilkinson, Bailey, Ritchings, Castagna 60.8 4-8

3 Risager, Davies, Kerr, Holub 60.0 8-10

4 Covatti, Douglas, Ritchings, Bailey 61.2 12-12

5 Kerr, Auty, Risager, Klindt 59.6 16-14

6 King, Wilkinson, Douglas, Sarjeant 59.6 19-17

7 Davies, Holub, Covatti, Castagna 60.7 20-22

8 Klindt, Wilkinson, Ritchings, Sarjeant (f) 59.0 21-27

9 Risager, Douglas, Kerr (f/x), Wilkinson (f/x) 59.4 24-29

10 Davies, King, Holub, Sarjeant 59.8 26-33

11 Covatti, Klindt, Auty, Castagna 60.1 29-36

12 Davies, Wilkinson, Kerr, Ritchings 60.7 30-41

13 King, Douglas, Auty, Covatti 60.1 33-44

14 Risager, Holub, Ritchings, Bailey 60.1 37-46

15 King, Davies, Covatti, Douglas 60.2 41-48

Witches 0 pts Scunthorpe 4 pts