The Evening Star Ipswich Witches failed in their attempt to finish the season in third place in the Sky Sports Elite League in this evening’s ‘Double-Header’ meeting at Foxhall Stadium sponsored by Howard Construction.

In the opening match of the evening the Witches defeated the Poole Pirates 52-38. This meant that Ipswich had to beat Coventry by twenty one points to overtake Swindon for third place in the League but the team never really looked like achieving it and the match ended in a 45-45 draw.

Tobi Kroner was at the stadium but his broken finger did not allow him to ride. Ipswich operated the Rider Replacement System in his absence. Jarek Hampel was also absent this evening due to him being required to ride for his Polish Club Leszno in an ExtraLeague Play-Off Semi-Final Match against Czestochowa which had been rained off last Sunday and rescheduled for tonight. For the match against Poole, Chris Harris, Coventry’s 2007 British Grand Prix Champion rode as a guest for Hampel.

Poole were able to put out their full-strength team with Davey Watt having recovered from the foot injury suffered at Peterborough just over a fortnight ago.

The large crowd was treated to some excellent speedway with the two teams locked together at 24-24 after eight heats. A 5-1 in heat nine to the Witches took them into the lead but going into heat thirteen the difference was still only four points. A 4-2 and two 5-1s to Ipswich in the final three races meant a home victory by fourteen points which although possibly slightly flattering the Witches meant they still retained an outside chance of overhauling Swindon for third place in the final League table.

Rory Schlein led the way for the Witches and deservedly received the rider of the meeting award. The Australian scored 13+1 from his six rides. There was strong support from Robert Miskowiak, who whilst still suffering with his ear infection, bounced back to form to record 10+2 from five rides. Chris Harris, showing tremendous enthusiasm, managed 10+1 from his five rides which included a race exclusion when he came to grief on the third bend in his second ride.

For Poole, the exciting Chris Holder had an inconsistent evening starting with a last place before notching nine points in his next four outings. Bjarne Pedersen scored 9+1 whilst Magnus Zetterstrom managed 8+1 but he faded a little after a very bright start. 

Ipswich Witches:
Piotr Swiderski 6, Tobi Kroner Rider Replacement, Chris Harris (guest) 10+1, Robert Miskowiak 10+2, Rory Schlein 13+1, Steve Johnston 9+3, Chris Schraam 4+3.

Poole Pirates:
Chris Holder 9, Magnus Zetterstrom 8+1, Bjarne Pedersen 9+1, Adam Skornicki 2+1, Davey Watt 5, Freddie Eriksson 5+1, Daniel Davidsson 0.

For the second match of the evening Chris Harris swapped race jackets to ride for his parent club Coventry whilst Poole’s Australian heat leader Davey Watt now donned a Witches’ race jacket as a guest in place of Jarek Hampel. The Coventry number 1 Hans Andersen had been struck down with a stomach bug and into his place as a guest came the Poole captain Bjarne Pedersen. The Bees were operating Rider Replacement for the injured Simon Stead and their second reserve berth was filled by their number 8, youngster Josh Auty who rides for Redcar in the Premier League.

The Witches needed to win the meeting by 21 points to finish third and ride at Lakeside in the play-offs next Monday. From the outset however this never looked likely to be achieved with the Bees taking a 5-1 in the opening race. Although the Witches fought back well they were never able to build up a lead of more than six points and once Robert Miskowiak had been controversially excluded in heat 9 after clashing with Filip Sitera on the third bend the task looked impossible. The meeting went down to a last heat decider with Rory Schlein battling very hard for second place in the final race to earn Ipswich a draw which seemed a fair result on the night.

Rory Schlein again top scored for the home side with 12+1. Over the course of the evening the Australian rode in a total of twelve heats and he looked almost out on his feet after the final race. Davey Watt was next best for Ipswich with eight whilst Chris Schraam scored 7+3 to be awarded the rider of the match prize. Skipper Steve Johnston added seven points to the nine he scored in the first meeting to complete a good night’s work.

Bjarne Pedersen proved to be an excellent guest for the Bees by scoring 13+1 with Billy Janniro next best with 9+1 whilst Oliver Allen showed excellent form in his opening three rides to severely diminish the Witches’ chances of victory.

Whilst undoubtedly disappointed that the Witches dropped a home point and failed to achieve their target it appeared that most of the crowd departed very satisfied with what had been a tremendous night’s racing.

Ipswich now move on to contest the Play-Off Semi-Final at Poole against the Pirates next Monday evening.

Ipswich Witches:
Piotr Swiderski 7, Tobi Kroner Rider Replacement, Davey Watt (guest) 8, Robert Miskowiak 4+1, Rory Schlein 12+1, Steve Johnston 7, Chris Schraam 7+3.

Coventry Bees:
Bjarne Pedersen 13+1, Oliver Allen 8+2, Chris Harris 8+1, Billy Janniro 9+1, Simon Stead Rider Replacement, Filip Sitera 6, Josh Auty 1+1.