Leicester Lions v Ipswich Witches

Report

IPSWICH seized the initiative in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Grand Final with a 47-43 win at Leicester to put themselves in the driving seat at the halfway stage.

The Witches overcame the loss of Adam Ellis in a Heat 3 crash to control long stages of the first leg, despite going four points down when conceding a 5-1 in that incident.

They responded with two maximums of their own to take the lead, and whilst the Lions clawed things back to level at 27-27, the visitors then secured four 4-2s in the next five races as they threatened to build a significant margin of victory.

A dramatic Heat 15 saw the previously unbeaten Emil Sayfutdinov disqualified for bringing down home man Ryan Douglas, who then combined with Max Fricke for a 5-1 over Jason Doyle to bring the margin back to four points.

Sayfutdinov scored 11+1 for the Witches with Tom Brennan (9) contributing two vital race wins, whilst reserves Dan Thompson and Jason Edwards crucially collected 14 (paid 17) between them with Ellis ruled out.

Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was a brilliant performance from the team tonight, I am so proud of them.

“We battled so hard all night, it was a big hit losing Adam so early on but all six men stepped it up.

“It was tough play-off speedway, and we didn’t get much of the rub of the green with decisions, but everyone kept their heads and contributed. It is nice to get a lead and get our noses in front, but everything is up for grabs on Thursday.

“Emil started us off brilliantly in Heat 1 and it was a superb performance from him. Danny’s (King) win in Heat 5 was really needed and he got that 5-1 with Emil just when we lost Adam, which was really important. Jason was superb, and Dan was amazing again at Leicester.”

ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP GRAND FINAL, 1st leg
LEICESTER 43: Max Fricke 12, Ryan Douglas 11+1, Sam Masters 7+1, Luke Becker 5+1, Kyle Howarth 5+1, Drew Kemp 3, Joe Thompson 0.
IPSWICH 47: Emil Sayfutdinov 11+1, Tom Brennan 9, Dan Thompson 8+3, Jason Doyle 8, Jason Edwards 6, Danny King 5+1, Adam Ellis 0.

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Photo credit: JEFF HIGGOTT