IPSWICH boss Ritchie Hawkins admits their derby win was "overshadowed" by the weather.

The Witches maintained the top spot in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership with a weather-limited 37-23 victory over King’s Lynn.

Heavy rain moved in on Foxhall during the afternoon after the attempt to improve conditions was met with a further downpour.

Hawkins said: “From a racing perspective, it was another good performance and a comfortable win, but it was a bit overshadowed by the weather and not getting the full meeting in.

“We had a second half planned as well and a big day of racing, so it was a big disappointment for the big crowd we had in.

“Bank Holiday meetings are a special day and enjoyable, and it is a shame the weather has spoiled that.

“It started raining during the meeting and the boys were struggling, we saw a couple of crashes, but we pushed on to Heat 10 and I didn’t hear any of the 14 riders that wanted to carry on.”

Emil Sayfutdinov and Adam Ellis both scored 7+1 from three rides for the Witches.

Guest Scott Nicholls scored 6+2 and Niels-Kristian Iversen won two races to finish with seven for the Stars.

Stars boss Rob Lyon said: “It was always going to be tough without our talisman and No.1 Tobiasz Musielak 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. The weather just ruined it again and you couldn’t race in those conditions, so it was the right decision.”

Witches will hope to continue their winning streak at the next meet against Sheffield Tigers on 13th May at Owlerton Stadium.

King’s Lynn Stars will be hoping for a comeback at home against Leicester Lions on 9th May.

 

Words by Freya Taylor. 

Images by Taylor Lanning.