MATCH REPORT: Wednesfield’s title hopes stay on track
Wednesfield Aces settled down to take the league points against a resilient Ipswich side after a few tape exclusions in the early stages of the meeting.
The Aces got off to a flyer in the first heat with a 7-3 from the Smith/Jewkes partnership followed by a 6-4 from Heard/Kemp against Brooke/Kemp.
Ipswich struck back with a 6-4 from Chadwick/Hill and heat 4 saw the Ace’s Matt Smith get a exclusion for moving under starters orders. Mikey Hewittson managed to split the Ipswich pairing but the Ipswich 6-3 put the visiting team back to just 1 point in arrears.
It all changed again in the next race, when this time Jamie Chittock of Ipswich got a tapes exclusion from match referee Bob Prince. Jewkes/Aris secured a 7-2 to give the Aces a bit of breathing space but that did not last long.
Another tapes exclusion from Aces’ Ben Mould resulted in a 6-3 to Ipswich leaving Wednesfield just a single point ahead making the score 34-33.
The Aces hit back again with a 6-4 advantage from Heard/Kemp against Chittock/Rumbold.
Heat 9 was the first drawn heat of the match where both teams had to settle for their equal share of the points going into the interval with the scores 45-42 to the home side.
The first heat after the interval had to be restarted after a crash on the first turn between Aces’ Mikey Hewittson and Ipswich’s Dan Knights, with Hewittson unable to take his place in the restart because of injury, his place taken by reserve Lee Aris.
In the re-run Dan Knights suffered a tape exclusion, however Josh Brooke kept the damage to a minimum for the visitors by storming out of the gate and never looking back, resulting in a 5-4 to the Aces.
Heat 11 saw Ipswich equalise with Chadwick/Hill getting a 7-3 over Heard/Kemp making the score 53-53. Smith/Jewkes started the rescue charge for the Aces’ with a 7-3, followed by a steady 5-5 and then another 7-3 from Hewittson/Heard to give the home side a 8 point lead.
The Aces were now on a roll coming to the final stages of the match and piled on the points with a couple of 6-4 wins and finished off with a final 7-3.
A great race meeting to watch for the spectators with some top class performances from both team’s riders.
Wednesfield Aces 104
Matt Smith 12, Chris Jewkes 16+3, Lee Kemp 8, Paul Heard 16+1, Brandon Whetton 17, Ben Mould 14+1, Mikey Hewittson 9+1, Lee Aris 9+2, Haydn Rowley 3.
Ipswich Eagles 92
Charlie Rumbold 13, Jamie Chittock 13, Leon Mower 4, Josh Brooke 14, Ashley Hill 11, Cody Chadwick 20+1, Matt Hill 13+1, Dan Knights 4.
Referee – Bob Prince