MATCH REPORT: Brooke unbeaten as Ipswich take maiden win
Ipswich 90 – 83 Newport, Elite League, 6th April 2014
Ipswich Eagles kicked off their 2014 Elite league campaign with the visit of Newport who were themselves making their debut in the Elite league ,both teams looked evenly matched with perhaps the home team looking like slight favourites with home advantage thou the visitors could boast plenty of top tier experience in the shape of Jamie Ball, Shaun Rudman and Mark Carmichael to lead the attack for the Welshmen.
Newport won the toss and took the inside grids for the opening heat, Ipswich took the race straight away to their opponents, though Chittock got relegated to the back, it was team mate Josh Brooke who took the chequered flag for a drawn heat. Heat two went the way of the home team 6-4, Roberts and Mower after Rudman slipped at the start and never recovered. Newport hit back in three with Carmichael and Evans securing a 6-4 to bring it back level. Ipswich were not deterred by this and with Brooke and Fellgett, scored the first maximum of the match in heat four to open up a four point cushion. The home team continue to control the match with the next three heats; a shared heat in five followed by 5-4 in six, with Rudman winning that heat after his team mate was excluded. A 6-4 in heat seven Brooke/Chittock put Ipswich seven points to the good and were looking to go in at half time with a comfortable lead. However, to Newport’s credit they reminded their hosts that they weren’t out of this contest and reeled two 6-4’s in eight and nine to take us into the break Ipswich 46 Newport 43.
Ipswich got off to a great start in the opening heat after the break with young Fellgett and Rumbold edging out Newport’s Herbert and David Ball 6-3, with Ball picking his second exclusion for not allowing enough room for Rumbold as he tried to defend Rumbold at the line. Heat eleven saw Evans and Carmichael bring Newport back within two points with classic team riding, 7-3.
Heat twelve saw another exclusion to a Newport rider this time Rudman put out by referee Legge for not allowing enough room, these exclusions were starting to be costly to the away team.
The match now was really starting to heat up as both sides pulled no punches and at one point that’s exactly what we nearly saw, but thankfully both sets of riders to their credit got back to the business in hand and that was to win a match, which was still so tight it could have gone either way. By heat fifteen only four points separated the two teams. Heat sixteen proved to be the turning point after was Hibberd excluded for taking too much time to get himself ready to race. The Newport rider seemed to be ready to start when he stopped the start, dismounted his machine and stepped away from the tapes to spin his rear wheel once again. The move left Mike Legge with no choice but to start without him and duly sent him back to the pits. Ipswich’s Peck and Chittock took full advantaged and secured a 7-2, to take the home team into a seven point lead, thus securing the Eagles first points of the season. It was Brooke and Mower who made sure with a shared heat in the penultimate heat, with Brooke going on to remain unbeaten with a 20 point maximum. Carmichael and Jamie Ball took the honours in the last heat but too little to late.
Final score Ipswich 90 Newport 83
Ipswich Eagles – 90
Josh Brooke 20 (5), Ashley Hill 13+1 (5), Jamie Chittock 12+1 (5), Adam Peck 12 (5),
Richard Fellgett 10+1 (3), Lewis Roberts 9 (5), Leon Mower 8 (5), Charlie Rumbold 7 (3)
Newport CSC – 83
Jamie Ball 16+2 (5), Mark Carmichael 14+2 (5), Shaun Rudman 12 (5), Aaran Herbert 11+1 (4),
Nicky Evans 10 (4), Oli Sidwick 10 (5), Jack Hibberd 8(5), David Ball 2(3)
Referee Mike Legge (Dorset)
Combination League
Ipswich Eagles (67+6) 73
Richard Felgett 18 (5) , Matthew Hill 17+3 (5), Ben Harvey 11(5), Olly Buxton 10 (4),
Fraser Harris 6 (3), Lisa-Marie Bown 2 (2), Lauren Jacobs 2 (2), Alex Harvey 1 (1)
Newport (61 +10 ) 71
David Ball 13+1 (5), Dan Bock 12 +1 (5), Colin Simmonds 12 (4) , Will Cartwright 9+1 (4),
Chris Davies 8 (4), Matt Davis 7+2 (4)
Referee Mike Legge (Dorset)
Both teams conceded penalty points which saw this match turn into a tight contest. Ipswich seemingly unable to shake off Newport as they kept coming back at the home team. Just when they thought they had got their noses in front, they had to show great character to win this encounter.
It wasn’t until the final three heats they managed to wrestle control and win the match by six points, to take their first points of the season. Olly Buxton made his debut in Eagle colours and didn’t go quite to plan when he was excluded in his very first heat for moving under orders, to his credit he didn’t allow it to affect his performance and will only get stronger in time and will be an asset to the team.
Report by Ipswich Eagles.