South -East Division One.
East London 52 : Nicky Gunkel 12, Denis Hubble 11, Steve Woodruff 9, Steve Myhill 7, Dave Hughes 7 , Kevin Smith 6 .
Ipswich Eagles 122 : Jamie Chitock 20, Josh Brooke 19 (1) ,Richard Fellgett 19(1), Lewis Roberts 17(3), Daniel Knights 13 (3), Charlie Rumbold 12 (2), Matt Hill 12(2), Leon Mower 10(3) .
Referee : Paul Roberts ( Suffolk ) .
On a bright sunny afternoon the Ipswich Eagles made the longest trip in the league to face their East London neighbours at the Docklands track for the start of what they hope will be another successful campaign and in doing so collect their third title in a row – a feat that hasn’t never been done before since the introduction of the South East league. The Londoners started having only six riders available, meaning that they would be in for a long afternoon, while Ipswich could boast five riders under the age of eighteen and three who could still could ride in the under sixteens.
Team manager Tony Stant will be certainly looking to give the youngsters a fair role to play in this years championship campaign while looking to the more senior riders to had experience and back up to this talented squad ,with the likes of Williamson ,Pike ,Stant and Ashley Hill also at his disposal in terms of regional racing the Suffolk base team can boast an array of riches which would be a match for any team up and down the country .
Ipswich were in no mood to be charitable to their hosts and set about their task in a ruthless fashion racking up sixty one points by half time. The only heat in which they didn’t score a maximum was in heat three when Mower came down while under pressure from Gunkel giving the Londoner’s a shared heat. The second half carried on very much in the same way as the first with Jamie Chittock scoring a maximum, supported by Josh Brooke and Richard Fellgett both scoring a paid max .
Like the first team the Ipswich Eagles second team were looking to get their campaign off to a winning start and start their defence of their fourth league title in a row . East London had to field the same six riders and were giving away thirty penalties points just to make their task even harder while the Suffolk team could call on three fresh riders . The match was raced in a good and at times humorous spirit , but in the end fast fading legs took their toll and the Suffolk side ran out comfortable winners by twenty points before adding the penalties points culminating in a final score 69 – 119 .
The message was clear to all the other teams in the league that Ipswich are hell bent on keeping the silverware at Whitton for another season and will not take any of their opponents likely. A word of thanks to Paul Roberts who stepped in to officiate both matches .
Ipswich Eagles scorers as follows : Daniel Knights 21(3) ,Richard Fellgett 20(2) , Matt Hill 14(1) , Lauren Jacobs 12(1) , Fraser Harris 11 , Phil Clarke 9 , Leon Mower 2 .