WITCHES MOVING CLEAR

IPSWICH extended their lead at the top of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership to five points with a 52-38 win over Belle Vue.

The Witches secured match and aggregate points against the Aces, with a mid-meeting burst of scoring taking them clear.

They raced to 5-1s in Heats 9 and 10 to go 12 points up before a Belle Vue fightback halved the gap, only for the home side to take maximum points in both Heats 13 and 15.

Emil Sayfutdinov delighted the home crowd by making his way past both Brady Kurtz and Dan Bewley on the opening lap of Heat 13 to team up with Jason Doyle, whilst Adam Ellis came from the back against Bewley in Heat 15 for another 5-1 advantage.

Doyle (12+2), Ellis (11+2) and Sayfutdinov (10+1) all scored strongly for the hosts, whilst Kurtz won three races for the Aces as he scored ten.

Witches manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “I’m delighted to get another win and three points, and at the moment that cements our place at the top, but we have got to race our other rivals yet in Sheffield and Leicester.

“We have got difficult meetings coming up, but we were really pleased to get the result. On the whole, the team showed the attitude and fight needed to get the job done.

“It was really solid from the top five and Adam’s last two meetings have shown how good he is at Foxhall which we know, so it is great to see that from him and he was backed up brilliantly by the others.”

Belle Vue boss Mark Lemon said: “There were definitely some improved performances. I feel that’s something we can build on should we meet Ipswich again in the play-offs.

“In the end 14 points looks like a big home win and a disappointing display. But we still felt we could sneak a win before Heat 13.

“We definitely operated with an eye on the play-offs. That was largely a success being only six points down going into the last three races. There were lots of positives.”

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Photo credit: JEFF HIGGOTT