Ipswich went into their second South East two fixture looking to secure a second win of the season. The Suffolk base side were missing some important members of their squad; with Charlie Rumbold and Fraser Harris involved in a 120 mile bike ride for sports relief the day before it seemed unfair to expect them to turn out at Norwich to race. With team captain Lauren Jacobs having to call off due to some sad news this left the young Suffolk side short on numbers, but this opens doors for others to come forward and be pitched in the deep end of league racing. So step forward Pierce Bacon to be given his chance to show what he can do.
The Norwich team looked a very strong outfit boasting a lot of experience heads in the shape of Chris Cullum, Gary Colby , Richard Hunt ,Alan Parkins and Steve Clare.
On a dry and testing track at times both teams put a cracking match which was nip and tuck all the way. Heat one was shared , and it was Ipswich in heat two who drew first blood with Matt Hill and Will Clark seeing off Colby /Dybell 6-4. Heat three 5-5, heat four saw Parkins and reserve Richard Hunt secure a 6-4 over Knights/ Gilbert-Rolfe to bring the scores level 20-20. Heat five saw Hill/Clark win 6-4 to move Ipswich in front again ,Norwich hit back taking heat six with a maximum with Chris Cullum and Ollie Riley to move them in front for the first time in the match ,Ipswich bounced straight back in heat seven with Knights and Stant 6- 3 with Colby managing to split the Ipswich pair after Dybell was lapped 35 – 34 in favour of Ipswich. The final heat before the break once again saw Hill and Clark combination see off Danielle and Ollie Riley 6-4 to take Ipswich into the break three points up 38-41.
Norwich came out in heat nine with Colby/Cullum and proved to be too strong for the Ipswich pairing of Fellgett and Bacon to win the 7-3 to move themselves into a one point lead ,heat ten was shared. Hheat eleven saw Ipswich gain their only maximum of the day with Hill and Clark beating Parkins and Ollie Riley to move the champions into a three point lead; was this the time the Ipswich team start turning the screw like they have so many times in the past with fitness and young legs taking over old heads? Up stepped Scottish international Richard Hunt and with man of the match Steve Clare got Norwich back into the match with an deserved 6-4 over Fellgett and Stant and moved within one point. Heat thirteen was shared ,heat fourteen saw Ipswich once again open up a two point cushion.
An unlikely win looked on the cards but then disaster struck the Suffolk club in the final two heats. Firstly in heat fifteen Gary Colby and Ipswich’s Daniel Knights came together in a nasty looking crash which ended both riders involvement in the match and with Ipswich having used their reserve replacement could only send out one rider in the re-run. It was left to Clare/Hunt to see off the challenge of Stant 7-2 to give Norwich a two point lead going into the last heat, and if it couldn’t get any worse Ipswich’s luck ran out with Matt Hill’s back wheel locking up as the tapes went up leaving team mate Will Clark out on grid four so it was a comfortable last heat win for Parkins and Clare and another 7-2 to see Norwich over the line by 82 points to 75. Team manager Tony Stant was full of praise for his young guns on a fantastic effort by all riders and that they shouldn’t be disappointed in the result and will eagerly await the return fixture in hope to reverse the result
Norwich B : Steve Clare 20 , Alan Parkins 14, Chris Cullum 12 , Richard Hunt 10 , Oliver Riley 9, Gary Colby 9, Danielle Riley 6 , Alex Dybell 2.
Ipswich B : Matthew Hill 18 , Daniel Knights 14 , Will Clark 13, Richard Fellgett 13, Terry Gilbert -Rolfe 7 , Pierce Bacon 5, Jordan Stant 5 .