Ipswich welcomed the unbeaten Sheffield Stars looking to continue to build on their recent success over Birmingham and continue their steady progress in this seasons Elite League. Ipswich started the afternoon without their captain Josh Brooke, sidelined for up to 3 months following recent knee surgery. Sheffield were also missing several first team members which gave a balance to the sides.
Heats one to three went the way of the visitors with three consecutive 6-4`s advantages and the match even at this early stage looked to be slipping away from the home team. In heat four Ipswich managed to steady the ship with a shared heat,then in heat five the home team came to life when young Charlie Rumbold and Richard Fellgett incredibly secured a 6-4 over reigning British Champion Andy Angell and team mate Jake Read, after Rumbold dumped Angell on the fourth bend, much to the delight of his team mates and home supporters. This seemed to spur the home team on with a shared heat in six,heat seven saw the first exclusion when Stephenson moved at the tapes. The home team went on to record a 6-3 to move within one point of Sheffield. Heat eight saw another shared heat,the final heat of the first half saw Sheffield`s Lee Smith excluded after failing to remount his bike. Matt Smith limited the damage by winning the heat so both teams went into the half time interval level on 44 points each.
Heat ten saw the home team edge in front for the first time with a 6-3 after Jamie Bull was excluded for legging. The next two heats were well contested heats that were shared as the home team showed their mental strength. Heat thirteen saw a double exclusion firstly to Andy Angell for the use of a leg and with Ipswich looking to have an advantage Richard Williamson was excluded in the re-run for bringing down Hoyland. The second re-run saw Roberts win the heat 4-3 to the home team, moving Ipswich into a four point lead.
At this stage you wouldn`t blame the home team thinking that a famous victory was on the cards but disaster struck in the following heat; Mower and Chittock chose the same moment on thelast lap to pass Stephenson as he slowed to an almost halt, and collided. Sheffield took full advantage and turned the 5-5 into a 7-3, levelling the match at 67pts all.
Heat fifteen saw Ipswich retake the lead with a 6-4 through L.Osborne and Rumbold.
The drama returned in heat sixteen when Roberts and C.Osborne came out to face Hoyland and Ball, in an incident packed heat Sheffield`s Jamie Ball suffered his second exclusion in which it appeared he used his head to knock Roberts off his bike. In the re-run Ipswich recorded a 6-3 heat win to move 5pts clear and it was clear to see that Sheffield were starting to get desperate as the match was slowly slipping away from them.
Ipswich went out in heat seventeen knowing that if they could share the heat the match was theirs for the taking as long as they avoided any exclusions in the final heat. Adam Peck and Jamie Chittock duly split the Sheffield pairing so it was left to L.Osborne and R.Williamson to see the home team over the line to victory.The final heat was called back the first time round and then in the re-run with Osborne fending off Angell down the back straight Angell appeared to remove one of his hands from his bike and linked arms with Osborne and pulled him down. After several riders from both sides entered the track from the pits, Referee Colin Simmonds declared a re-run with all four riders. In the re-run Sheffield`s Adam Stephenson was excluded at the tapes much to the delight of the home supporters. Heat eighteen got underway once again with Angell chasing down Osborne, the Ipswich rider was able to clamp Angell to the outside allowing his team mate to come through, with this Angell dismounted his bike and walked back to the pits thus giving Ipswich a 7-0 win.
Ipswich 91 – Adam Peck 18, Lewis Roberts 18, Lewis Osborne 14, Jamie Chittock 10, Richard Williamson 10, Charlie Rumbold 8, Chris Osborne 6, Leon Mower 5, Richard Fellgett 2, Ashley Hill dnr.
Sheffield 79 – Ryan Hoyland 16, Matt Smith 15, Adam Stephenson 12, Jake Read 10, Jamie Ball 9, Dan Chambers 7, Andy Angell 5, Lee Smith 5, Aiden Owen dnr, Ben Swanborough dnr.
Referee Colin Simmonds (Gwent).