KING’S Lynn were beaten 37-23 at Ipswich on Monday in a meeting curtailed after ten races with the closing stages raced in atrocious conditions.
The Witches took the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership points but it was a less than satisfactory encounter between the local rivals, with riders from both teams expressing their concerns when the rain moved in.
The match was progressed to the completion of ten heats, which meant the result could be declared, with a delay for track work not improving the situation so there was no resumption.
The PSH Environmental Stars always expected a tough encounter against the league leaders, especially travelling without injured captain Tobiasz Musielak, and with no suitable guest available to stand in at No.1.
But they did provide winners in four of the ten races, Patryk Wojdylo getting them on the board with a victory over Keynan Rew in Heat 2 whilst Anders Rowe added third place.
Ipswich stretched their early lead when Scott Nicholls came from the back against Benjamin Basso and Michael Palm Toft in Heat 3 to complete a 5-1 with Adam Ellis, but Niels-Kristian Iversen defeated Nicholls and Ellis in Heat 5 after Wojdylo had come to grief on the opening lap.
Rain was by now beginning to intensify and the Witches secured back-to-back 5-1s in Heats 6 and 7 with gating of paramount importance.
The Stars proved that point in Heat 8 with a 5-1 of their own from Iversen and Rowe, but Wojdylo came down again jn Heat 9 as Ellis and Nicholls defeated Nicolai Klindt.
What turned out to be the final race of the encounter saw Palm Toft ride well to hold off Emil Sayfutdinov in Heat 10, with Basso third for a 4-2, but conditions were hardly raceable by that stage.
Stars manager Rob Lyon said “It was always going to be tough without our talisman and No.1 who’s pretty good around Ipswich, so we knew it was going to be a tough meeting.
“We were sort of hanging in there a little bit but it was obvious what the result was going to be, it was one of those days.
“It was 100 per cent correct to call it off. I spoke to the referee after Heat 7 and said the boys don’t look particularly safe out there, and his decision was to continue.
“Then riders got involved after Heats 8 and 9, and obviously then track work was taking place in agreement with everyone, but the weather just ruined it again and you couldn’t race in those conditions, so it was the right decision.”
IPSWICH 37: Emil Sayfutdinov 7+1, Adam Ellis 7+1, Scott Nicholls 6+2, Dan Thompson 6+1, Jason Doyle 6, Keynan Rew 4+1, Jordan Jenkins 1. KING'S LYNN 23: Niels-Kristian Iversen 7, Michael Palm Toft 4, Patryk Wojdylo 4, Anders Rowe 3+1, Nicolai Klindt 3, Benjamin Basso 2, Tobiasz Musielak r/r. Abandoned after Heat 10 (Rain) - Result stands
