MATCH REPORT: Stars rampant in round 6

Ipswich arrived at Sheffield missing a number of their first team regulars and unfortunately for them, ran into a Sheffield team who are at the top of their game at the moment. The Stars started off with two maximum 7-3s from Myke Grimes and Gavin Parr, then Pawel Idziorek and Andy Angell, before Ipswich’s Richard Fellgett managed to split Sheffield’s Polish duo of Damien Zareba and Radek Handke to limit the damage to a 6-4.

A strange heat 4 saw only two riders finish as firstly Sheffield’s Myke Grimes was excluded for movement at the tapes, then Ben Harvey of Ipswich fell and had to retire as he shed his chain. A disgruntled Grimes went on to win all his other rides, which would have given him a maximum but for the costly exclusion.

With just one shared heat all the rest were advantages to the home side, which saw Sheffield on 56 at the interval to Ipswich’s 30, Ipswich having claimed the inside grids. The second half of the meeting started off in a similar vein to the first half. The South Yorkshire men making the most of the wide open spaces of the Cookson Park track, gave a great display of team riding with the likes of Angell, Zareba and Parr making some breath taking passes.

Idziorek, Handke, Grimes and Hewitson gave a master class in gating and Sheffield youngster Niall Morton gave a good account of himself as he made the most of his first team opportunity today. Despite the large score line this was an entertaining fixture and all credit to the Ipswich team for making a match of it when they were well and truly up against it. Idziorek went on to score a 20 point full house as did Zareba with 17+3, Ipswich’s main attack came from talented youngster Richard Fellgett, who was always a threat.

With the league points in the bag, Sheffield face a difficult trip to Poole next where they must not slip up, Ipswich have league leaders Wednesfield still to come to Suffolk and will be hoping for better rider availability. Referee Mike Legge travelled the furthest distance of anyone making the long trip up from Dorset to officiate over the proceedings.

Sheffield 113
Pawel Idziorek 20, Damien Zareba 17+3, Radek Handke 17+1, Myke Grimes 16, Andy Angell 15+3, Gavin Parr 13+2, Mikey Hewitson 10+1, Niall Morton 5+1

Ipswich 61
Richard Fellgett 12, Josh Brooke 11, Lewis Roberts 10, Fraser Harris 7+2, Daniel Knights 7, Ashley Hill 5, Lauren Jacobs 5, Ben Harvey 4

Elite League Combination

The Combination match proved to be a very entertaining fixture with some good racing, however with Ipswich giving away 23 penalty points, this left them too high a mountain to climb. Sheffield youngster Joe Twigg riding in his first Elite Combination match weighed in with a great 12 points from reserve. As always with Sheffield it was a true team effort whether that involved winning a race, team riding with a partner or giving up a ride to allow a team mate an extra race.

Sheffield 97 (74+23)
Kyle Holland 15+1, Jason Burke 14+2, Richard Hudson 14+1, Joe Twigg 12, Niall Morton 11+1, Matt Parrott 4+1, Ed Morton 4

Ipswich 60 (55+5)
Richard Fellgett 18, Alex Harvey 10+2, Fraser Harris 9+1, Charlie Jane Herbet 8, Lauren Jacobs 7+1, Luke Dunningham 3