WITCHES HOLD ON IN TV THRILLER
EMIL Sayfutdinov held his nerve to collect second place in Heat 15 to seal a 46-44 win for Ipswich at Oxford in a pulsating televised ROWE Motor Oil Premiership clash at Oxford.
There was high drama in the final race when with the Spires requiring a 5-1 to level the scores, Witches No.1 Jason Doyle was disqualified for triggering a pile-up which resulted in all four riders coming to grief on lap two.
That meant Sayfutdinov had to go alone in the re-run, and he duly finished between Maciej Janowski and Rohan Tungate to secure a narrow win as his side went back to the top of the table.
Spires had earlier fought back from an early ten-point deficit in an incident-filled encounter, but they just fell short at the end.
Sayfutdinov scored 12+1 for the visitors with reserve Dan Thompson (7+2) involved in two vital 5-1s in the second half of the meeting, whilst Janowski (11+1) led the way for the battling home side.
Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was a tough meeting, we started off superbly, but they came back into it, and we got over the line in the end.
“It is another away win on the board, and we got the result we needed so I am happy with that. All the boys contributed again which is really pleasing to see so I leave here happy.
“Danny (King) touched the tapes in his last ride when he was desperate to make up for a fall earlier on and we had a couple of crashes, but I put that down to them putting everything in it to win.”
Oxford manager Peter Schroeck said: “When you lose by just a couple of points, it’s tough, because you reflect on how close you were to winning, but the boys dug deep and we pushed Ipswich all the way.
“Witches knew they were in a battle as well. Afterwards, Ritchie Hawkins said to me: ‘wow Pete, you gave us a hell of a match.’
“We’ve shown we can compete with anyone around here, while Maciej was on it and he beat Emil twice in the closing stages. I’m hoping everyone went home entertained tonight and wants to come back to see some more.”
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Photo credit: LES AUBREY
