Ipswich Witches 48 Belle Vue Aces 42
Ipswich Witches had to dig deep once more to claim victory at Foxhall Stadium, 48-42 against Belle Vue Aces.
On a heavy track that suffered after a downpour flooded it at 4.30pm, the home side were not making the starts as the Manchester side enjoyed a flurry of chequered flags in the first part of the meeting.
But, not for the first time, the Witches guile and determination came to the fore and, led by Richard Lawson and Edward Kennett, they began to hit the front from the starts and that pairing clinched the deal in an exciting heat 15.
It was another guts and glory effort from Ritchie Hawkins' side who at no time were in control of the meeting, but never threw the towel in.
Even with No.1 Chris Harris off the pace with a disappointing single point, others again came to the party. The Witches remain second in the table, but now five points ahead of third-placed Belle Vue.
It was the Aces who struck first as Max Fricke and Steve Worrall gated to victory with a maximum.
Kennett nipped out of the start in heat two with Krystian Pieszczek, now down to reserve, holding onto third place despite rearing and bucking on more than one occasion!
Nick Morris, guesting for the injured Dan Bewley held off Danny King's attentions in the next as Kennett's bike packed up at the start of heat four and he went out on Cameron Heeps' bike.
Not that it made any difference to Kennett who streaked to victory as the meeting levelled up.
Worrall made it two out of two for him but Fricke was at the back before Kenneth Bjerre put his poor first race behind him with a victory.
Morris was proving an inspired guest as he won again before the Witches were struck bad luck in heat eight as Kennett packed up while leading, Heeps superbly saving the day for the home side with a last to first win in thrilling style.
But the Witches weren't getting out of the start. And so it continued in heat nine, with Bjerre shooting from the start.
However, despite the lack of winners the Witches were still all level.
Heeps was having another cracking meeting and he and Jakobsen flew side by side into turn three on lap one with the Witch coming out on top. But with Harris stuck at the back, still the scores were level.
Richard Lawson showed huge aggression in a flying start to win the next but it was seven shared races on the bounce now. It was the start of three crucial wins for the Ipswich man.
King's fine win over a hard-charging Morris and Kennett's third place put the Witches two-up with three to go.
Lawson did it again with another win in heat 13 as the Witches remained two up.
Man-of-the meeting Kennett won heat 14 with Allen stalking Dimitri Berge for three laps before passing him on the last one.
It left the Witches four up with one to go and the last heat was a corker with Lawson and Bjerre having a battle at the front with Kennett passing Morris at the back, the resultant 4-2 to Ipswich seeing the Foxhall faithful go home happy.
Scorers
Ipswich: C Harris 1+1, C Heeps 9, D King 8+1, J Allen 5+2, R Lawson 11+1, E Kennett 11, K Pieszczek 3
Belle Vue: M Fricke 6+1, S Worrall 8+2, N Morris 10, D Berge 0, K Bjerre 9+1, J Lidsey 2, N Jakobsen 7+1
Heat details
1 Worrall, Fricke, Heeps, Harris 57.0 1-5
2 Kennett, Lidsey, Pieszczek, Jakobsen 57.7 5-7
3 Morris, King, Allen, Berge 57.8 8-10
4 Kennett, Jakobsen, Lawson, Bjerre 57.6 12-12
5 Worrall, Allen, King, Fricke 57.8 15-15
6 Bjerre, Heeps, Harris, Lidsey 57.6 18-18
7 Morris, Pieszczek, Lawson, Berge 58.0 21-21
8 Heeps, Jakobsen, Worrall, Kennett (r) 58.7 24-24
9 Bjerre, King, Allen, Lidsey 57.9 27-27
10 Heeps, Morris, Jakobsen, Harris 58.0 30-30
11 Lawson, Fricke, Worrall, Pieszczek 58.8 33-33
12 King, Morris, Kennett, Lidsey 58.4 37-35
13 Lawson, Fricke, Bjerre, Pieszczek 58.3 40-38
14 Kennett, Jakobsen, Allen, Berge 58.5 44-40
15 Lawson, Bjerre, Kennett, Morris 58.3 48-42
Ipswich 3 pts. Belle Vue 1 pts.
Premiership
P Pts
Poole 16 36
Ipswich 17 36
Belle Vue 18 32
Swindon 14 24
Wolves 15 22
King's Lynn 15 19
Peterborough 17 17
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