Emergency Ward Ten at Foxhall Heath

IPSWICH WITCHES 56 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 34 (PREMIER LEAGUE)

HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions were in the wars at Ipswich Witches last night (Thursday), suffering a 34-56 defeat at Foxhall Heath, in a match littered with falls and unsatisfactory starts. But the good news is that none of the injuries sustained seem to be that serious.

In a bruising encounter for Scorpions:

• Ryan Douglas (pictured) crashed out of the meeting in his opening ride in the re-run of Heat 4 with a wrist injury.
• Josh Bailey suffered an ankle injury in the initial staging of Heat 4, and only continued in the meeting due to Douglas’ withdrawal.
• Michael Palm Toft damaged his hand and fingers in a scary-looking impact into the fence in Heat 11.
• Carl Wilkinson continued in the meeting, despite a couple of bruising falls.
• Food poisoning victim Josh Auty was still feeling far from 100%.

Scunthorpe began relatively brightly and were holding the hosts 9-9 after three races, but never recovered after both Bailey and Douglas crashed out in Heat 4, gifting Witches a 5-0.

Ipswich have been in fine form at Foxhall Heath recently, putting 57 past Peterborough and scoring 61 against Plymouth, and in that context, wounded Scorpions never stood a chance.

Lewis Kerr top scored for the visitors with 9+1 on the return to the track where he started the 2016 season.

Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet said: “We’re a bit battered and bruised – it was one of those nights.

“Ryan hurt his wrist; it got knocked about in his accident. He was struggling to make a fist, and he wouldn’t have been able to hang onto his handlebars, plus it was starting to swell up, so he couldn’t continue in the meeting.

“But we haven’t got another meeting until a week on Sunday, and I think he’ll be OK by then.

“Toftie (Michael Palm Toft) picked up and took quite a bit of safety fence with him. He’s damaged his hand and his fingers, and took quite a bit of skin off his hand, but again he should be fine for a week on Sunday.

“In his first fall, Josh Bailey hurt his ankle. He was close to withdrawing from the meeting, but braved it out, because Ryan had pulled out.

“Ryan got hurt, Toftie got hurt, little Josh got hurt and Wilko (Carl Wilkinson) had a couple of heavy falls.

“On top of all that, Josh Auty was still a long way from 100%, after missing Somerset on Tuesday through food poisoning. With hindsight, maybe we should have booked a guest for Josh at Ipswich, and allowed him a bit of extra time to recover.

“There were a couple of positives for us. One was Josh Bailey, who I thought rode well despite his injury, and the other was Lewis Kerr, who really got going, after having bike problems early on.”

Peet also revealed that recent signing Fritz Wallner will be jetting back to Austria, to bring back some new machinery for the visit of Workington to the Eddie Wright Raceway a week on Sunday (July 21).

He said: “Fritz is going back home to bring across two different engines, which should be more suited to the tracks over here. He didn’t know about set-ups before he came over, because it was a case of practicing on the Saturday at Scunthorpe and then being thrown into his first three meetings for us.

“He said his bikes were spinning at Somerset and again here at Ipswich, so if he can find something he’s happier with on the tracks over here, it will help boost his confidence.”

IPSWICH WITCHES 56
1. Danny King 3 3 3 3 (12)
2. James Sarjeant 1 1 3 1 (6)
3. Nico Covatti 0 3 1 2 1 (7)
4. Morten Risager 3 2* 3 3 (11+1)
5. Ben Barker 3 3 3 FX 3 (12)
6. Joe Jacobs 2 2* 0 2* (6+2)
7. Danyon Hume 0 2* F 0 (2+1)

HENDERSON INSURANCE SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 34
1. Josh Auty 0 1 2 2 (5)
2. Michael Palm Toft 2 0 4# FX (6)
3. Lewis Kerr 1* 1 2 3 2 (9+1)
4. Fritz Wallner 2 0 F 1 0 (3)
5. Ryan Douglas FX (0)
6. Carl Wilkinson 3 2 1* F 1 (7+1)
7. Josh Bailey 1 FX 0 2 1* 0 (4+1)

# = tactical ride

1: King, Palm Toft, Sarjeant, Auty, 56.8 (4-2) (4-2).
2: Wilkinson, Jacobs, Bailey, Hume, 58.6 (2-4) (6-6).
3: (Re-run) Risager, Wallner, Kerr, Covatti, 57.8 (3-3) (9-9).
4: (Re-run three times) Barker, Hume, Douglas (fell, excluded), Bailey (fell, excluded),59.0 (5-0) (14-9).
5: Covatti, Risager, Auty, Palm Toft, 58.8 (5-1) (19-10).
6: (Re-run) King, Wilkinson, Sarjeant, Bailey, 57.9 (4-2) (23-12).
7: (Re-run) Barker, Jacobs, Kerr, Wallner, 59.2 (5-1) (28-13).
8: Sarjeant, PALM TOFT (TR), Wilkinson, Jacobs, 59.1 (3-5) (31-18).
9: Risager, Bailey, Covatti, Wilkinson (fell) (4-2) (35-20).
10: King, Kerr, Sarjeant, Wallner, 57.6 (4-2) (39-22).
11: Barker, Auty, Hume (fell), Palm Toft (fell, excluded), awarded – no time (3-2) (42-24).
12: (Re-run) Kerr, Covatti, Wilkinson, Hume, 59.0 (2-4) (44-28).
13: (Re-run) King, Auty, Bailey, Barker (fell, excluded), 57.9 (3-3) (47-31).
14: Risager, Jacobs, Wallner, Bailey, 59.0 (5-1) (52-32).
15: Barker, Kerr, Covatti, Wallner, 59.2 (4-2) (56-34).