ROWE Motor Oil Premiership
IPSWICH charged into the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Grand Final with an emphatic 59-31 second leg win over Belle Vue at Foxhall.
The Witches took just four races to cancel out the six-point deficit they faced at the halfway stage of their play-off semi-final, and the key phase of the meeting saw them take back-to-back 5-1s in Heats 9 and 10 to go 12 points up overall.
Their progression was secured with maximum points from Jason Doyle and reserve Jason Edwards in Heat 12, and they marched on to further extend their advantage.
Tom Brennan led the scoring with 12+2 and there were also major contributions from Doyle (11), Dan Thompson (10+3) and Danny King (10) on a night where the home side adapted better to conditions following afternoon rain.
Manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “We certainly weren’t complacent, which is something we have been guilty of in the past and I am really pleased with the boys. They were 100 per cent focused on winning and not on track conditions.
“The will to win outshone everything tonight and that is what got us the victory. I know it was a big margin in the end, but it didn’t feel that way in the first half of the meeting where it was tight.
“For us, it was a bad toss for us to lose but we negotiated those first four heats well and then in the second half of the meeting we stepped it up a gear.
“The result can be exaggerated a bit because once Belle Vue know they’re beaten, it can be hard to carry on for them. I’m delighted with the boys and the attitude they showed tonight, they got their rewards from it.”
The Witches will now face either Leicester or Sheffield in the Grand Final, with their home leg to be staged on Thursday September 25 and the opener three nights earlier.
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Photo credit: JEFF HIGGOTT
Courtesy of BRITISHSPEEDWAY.CO.UK
Photo Courtesy of BRITISHSPEEDWAY.CO.UK
