Speedway: Ipswich stay top of table with win over Sheffield | News

The two teams met in the Knockout Cup final and play-off final last season

Ipswich Witches consolidated their position at the top of the table with a 46-44 win over reigning champions Sheffield.

The visitors were without captain Danny King through injury, with Ryan Doulgas guesting in his place, while the hosts had Luke Killeen in reserve for the injured Jason Edwards.

The two sides met in the Knockout Cup final and play-off final last season and there wasn’t much to separate the teams throughout this contest, but the Witches went ahead in the 12-leg series and saw out the result to -consolidate its position at the top of the table. .

Emil Sayfutdinov, Jason Doyle and Keynan Rew all scored 8+1.

“A brilliant result”

Ipswich team manager Ritchie Hawkins reflected on Monday’s win: “A brilliant result which leads to our great start to the season.

“I’m delighted that all seven have contributed and we’ve been so solid again. We were heavily criticized last year for being a two-man team, but we’re far from that this year. “There’s still more to come from us and I don’t get carried away with a Sheffield win at this time of year as I think we’ll have a lot of tough battles against them this year but it’s nice to go 1-0!

“We talked about not winning here that much before kick-off because the reason we won that night was because we were solid throughout and everyone scored.

“If you looked at the two score charts then compared to tonight, they’re very similar. We knew what we had to do, and this year, compared to last year, we kept going past the halfway point in the meet instead of giving up. stuck in there and got our rewards at the end.

“All seven riders have contributed and I think you see a steady improvement in Jordan over the last few meetings. Keynan leveled up and so did Dan. Our younger team members contribute massively and that is the difference, plain and simple…

“It’s a long season ahead, we could very well come here in the cup and the play-offs and if we lose those games, nobody will remember tonight.

“It’s a great result that keeps the ball rolling and shows that we’re serious again this year, but we’re not getting carried away.”

The Witches next run is on Thursday when they welcome Birmingham Brummies to Foxhall.

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