Ipswich Witches 49, Lakeside Hammers 43
LAKESIDE Hammers suffered a disappointing defeat against Elite League bottom club Ipswich on Thursday, the first time the home side had won in six outings.
And to compound the misery, Lakeside really had only themselves to blame after throwing away a 12 point lead gained over the first seven races.
New rider Peter Ling made his debut but had a disappointing night, culminating in a controversial exclusion in heat 11.
Despite that Hammers had looked on the point of confirming their victory when Lee Richardson and Adam Shields were on a 5-1 two races later but Shields then lost control after hitting some dirt and crashed into the fence.
In the re-run Scott Nicholls - on his second bike after struggling a bit early on – came from behind to follow him Ales Dryml to put Ipswich into the lead for the first time.
It was a slice of good fortune, but one Ipswich deserved.
This was after the plucky Danny King and the classy Linus Sundtsrom had combined for a 5-1 in heat 12 as the fight-back gained momentum.
Dryml became a favourite of the fans in the next race as the meeting ended on a real high for home supporters by passing Stuart Robson and following home Sundstron in heat 12.
It could have been all three league points for Ipswich as they were in a 5-1 position in the final race when Nicholls spun round on the second circuit.
Ipswich: S Nicholls 8+2, C Slabon 0, D King 14+1, A Dryml 8+2, rider replacement for R Miskowiak, D Stachyra 4+1, L Sundstrom 14. No 8: R Hawkins 1.
Lakeside: L Richardson 11, P Ljung3+2, K Nieminen 5+1, J Davidsson 7, A Shields 10+1, P Hurry 3, S Robson 4+1.
Heat-by-heat
1 Richardson, Nicholls, Ljung, Slabon 58.1 2-4
2 Stachyraall, Hurry, Robson, Sundstrom, 58.9 5-7
3 Davidsson, Dryml, Nieminen. King (fell), 58.6 7-11
4 Shields, Sundstrom, Robson, Stachyra, 58.3 9-15
5 King, Richardson, Ljung, Dryml, 58.6 12-18
6 Shields, Nicholls, Hurry, Slabon, 58.2 14-22
7 Davidsson, Nieminen, Hawkins, Stachyra, 59.1 15-27
8 Sundstrom, Robson, Ljung, Slabon, 59.1 18-30
9 Shields, King*, Dryml, Hurry, 58.8 23-33
10 Sundstrom, Nicholls, Nieminen, Davidsson, 59.2 28-3
11 Richardson, King, Stachyra. Ljung (f/exc), 59.4 31-37
12 Sundstrom, King, Nieminen, Hurry, 97.2 36-38
13 Dryml, Nicholls, Richardson. Shields (f/exc) 60.5 41-39
14 Sundstrom, Dryml, Davidsson, Robson, 59.3 46-40
15 King, Richardson, Shields. Nicholls (ret), 59.9 49-43