IPSWICH 47 FOXES 43
NORTHAMPTON Foxes again showed they plan to be a force in British Speedway’s Premiership this season as they pushed Ipswich all the way at Foxhall on Thursday.
The Foxes went down to a 47-43 defeat - a result which was enough to qualify their opponents for the Knockout Cup Final – but as at King’s Lynn 72 hours earlier, there were several positive signs to build on.
There was a stunning start to the meeting for the Foxes, who raced into a 15-9 lead after four races, and whilst the Witches fought back strongly to open up a ten-point lead, the visitors outscored their hosts in the final third of the meeting to bring the gap back down to four.
No.1 Jaimon Lidsey completed a highly impressive week with three more race wins as he topped the scorechart with 13 points, and he was joined in double figures by reserve Kye Thomson who could also be delighted with his performance.
It was the Foxes riders who hit the front in the opening race although they had to be content with a 4-2 as Danny King split Lidsey and Troy Batchelor, and the home side then carded maximum points in Heat 2 despite the efforts of Thomson to get on terms with Jason Edwards.
But Northampton then shocked their hosts with back-to-back 5-1s, first from Lidsey and Matej Zagar over Richard Lawson and Scott Nicholls in Heat 3, and then when youngster Luke Harrison superbly got the better of Edwards and Polish star Tobiasz Musielak to follow skipper Nicolai Klindt home and put the Foxes six points up.
The Ipswich response came from Nicholls and Lawson as Lidsey missed out in Heat 5, and after a fine win by Thomson over King and Tom Brennan in the next, the Witches hit the front with two 5-1s in the next two races.
Klindt stemmed the tide with win in Heat 9 as Thomson just missed out to Nicholls, but when Klindt took a tactical substitute ride in Heat 10 he was left at the back as King and Brennan held off Zagar to put Ipswich ten points up.
But the Foxes weren’t about to give in and after a shared Heat 11, Zagar and Thomson collected an excellent 5-1 in Heat 12 after Lawson had been forced wide, making it 39-33.
Ipswich edged closer to a win on the night with a 4-2 in Heat 13 as Lidsey split Musielak and Brennan, and Thomson then topped his previous efforts with his outside move to win Heat 14, although second place for Nicholls over Zagar did secure the home victory.
However, the Foxes would have the final word as Lidsey and Thomson blasted to the front on the opening lap of Heat 15, and although they were eventually split by Musielak the close final score was at least reflective of the Northampton efforts.
Foxes manager Chris Adams said: “Once again there were lots of positives during the night. We’re still trying to find our form a little bit, but there are some very encouraging signs.
“Jaimon again did a brilliant job at No.1, and I thought Kye had a fantastic night at reserve.
“It was obvious quite early on that gates one and three were very dominant tonight, and it was really a case of trying to make anything work that you could when you were off two and four.
“The tactical substitute went against me a bit because in Heat 9 Nicolai came off gate two and won it comfortably, so I thought I’d strike with the rider replacement ride in Heat 10 with him off the exact same gate, but it just didn’t work that time for him, which was unfortunate.
“But all in all Ipswich are pretty strong at home, so I have to say to come away with a four-point loss, I’m happy with that performance.”
The Foxes are next in action in the return fixture against Ipswich next Thursday (April 30) which is scheduled to be the grand opening at Northampton International Raceway. Updates will follow next week as final preparations are made at the stadium.
IPSWICH 47: Tobiasz Musielak 12, Danny King 9+1, Richard Lawson 6+1, Scott Nicholls 6+1, Tom Brennan 5+1, Philip Hellstrom-Bangs 5+1, Jason Edwards 4+2.
NORTHAMPTON 43: Jaimon Lidsey 13, Kye Thomson 10+1, Matej Zagar 8+1, Nicolai Klindt 6, Troy Batchelor 3+1, Luke Harrison 3+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen r/r.
Photo credit: JEFF HIGGOTT