Ipswich Witches v Leicester Lions

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JASON Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov raced to a last-heat 5-1 as Ipswich edged out Leicester 47-43 in a Sports Insure Premiership clash which went right down to the wire.

The Lions put on a fine show at Foxhall and in fact held an early six-point lead, before pulling back from four down to level the scores with a 5-1 from Chris Harris and Jake Allen in Heat 14.

But the Witches’ top two led away in the decider before Harris slid off, and the race was awarded as a maximum to the hosts.

Sayfutdinov, with 13+1, dropped his only point to Harris (12+2) who completed a spectacular overtaking move in Heat 7. Doyle scored 12 for the Witches and Max Fricke picked up 11 for the Lions.

Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “I’m pleased with another win, we certainly scraped through it and Leicester put in a great performance. They looked like a team in form and rode really well, so credit to them.

“I think tonight was a meeting where the coin toss at the start actually played a big part in the meeting. I felt (gates) one and three were going to be better because four didn’t look as good as the other three and it certainly proved that way.

“They got ahead at the start of the meeting and then when we had a run of one and three, we pulled it back and got ahead ourselves and managed to hang on until the end. Having Doyley and Emil in Heat 15 fills you with confidence and they did the business again.”

Harris said: “It was a shame to lose like we did, but Ipswich are strong at home and everyone put in a shift tonight and we just lost it in the last heat.

“I’m pleased with my performance and also how the boys rode. I tried something in Heat 15 that didn’t quite work and then I went a bit too deep and the tyre went from underneath me and it came around, but these things happen.

“But I felt better on the bike tonight than I have probably all season, and that’s a positive.”

IPSWICH 47: Emil Sayfutdinov 13+1, Jason Doyle 12, Danyon Hume 9+1, Danny King 6, Ben Barker 5+1, Keynan Rew 1, Joe Thompson 1.
LEICESTER 43: Chris Harris 12+2, Max Fricke 11, Justin Sedgmen 8+2, Jake Allen 6+1, Dan Thompson 3+1, Nick Morris 3, Richard Lawson r/r.

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Photo credit: JEFF HIGGOTT