Jason Doyle kept his nerve as Ipswich Witches leapt to the top of the Premiership table with a last-heat victory over King's Lynn Stars at Foxhall Stadium.
Ipswich won 46-44 in another thriller of a meeting on the Heath, with Doyle streaking away from gate one to seal the deal for Ipswich with a win in heat 15.
This meeting could have gone either way but in Doyle and Erik Riss the Witches had two riders who won eight of the 15 heats between them.
It was nip and tuck throughout and the Stars looked as though they may grab the win after Troy Batchelor suffered an exclusion in heat 11 to level up the scores.
But Ipswich hit back, Ben Barker and Riss scoring a vital heat 14 maximum as the home fans went wild.
It was a sunny night on the Heath and a good crowd was in attendance. The Witches made the perfect start as Riss and Doyle shot from the tapes to lead Lewis Kerr home.
Richie Worrall won the reserves race as Jack Thomas passed Danyon Hume for third. Riss was leading the next but fell on the second turn, second lap as he seemed to have machine problems.
He was excluded and it was costly as Thomas Jorgensen passed Danny King in the re-run to join Niels Kristian-Iversen at the front as Lynn took a 8-10 lead. Thomas hit the deck at the start of heat four and was excluded.
In the re-run the Witches kept Josh Pickering at bay as they took the lead by two. Riss won the next and Doyle was an easy winner of heat six.
However, it was Lynn who re-took the lead 20-22 with a second maximum for the Iversen/Jorgensen pairing. It was nip and tuck and the Witches levelled in up in heat eight, Kerr splitting the home pairing with a fine pass on Hume.
Jorgensen almost flipped off his bike exiting the second bend on the opening lap of heat 10 as Doyle and Barker sped past and the Witches re-took the lead at 32-28.
But Batchelor had bike problems at the gate in heat 11 and was excluded as the Stars made the Witches pay to level up the scores at 33-all.
Iversen passed Barker as Worrall took the lead to put the Stars two ahead as the meeting came to the boil.
And heat 14 was sensational as Barker led with Riss chasing and eventually passing Jorgensen on lap three to put Ipswich two ahead with one to go as the crowd went wild, with Doyle sealing the deal.
Top Witch
Jason Doyle. A brilliant maximum from the gate and from the back. A super-confident last heat 15 victory t'boot.
Ipswich: Jason Doyle 14+1; Rider replacement; Danny King 3; Erik Riss 12; Troy Batchelor 7+1; Ben Barker 9+2; Danyon Hume 1.
Kings Lynn: Richard Lawson 7+1; Lewis Kerr 8; Niels-Kristian Iversen 9+1; Thomas Jorgensen 4+2; Josh Pickering 5+2; Richie Worrall 10+1; Jack Thomas 1.
*bonus point
Heat details
1. Riss, Doyle, Kerr, Lawson 57.0 5-1
2. Worrall, Barker, Thomas, Hume 56.8 7-5
3. Iversen, Jorgensen, King, Riss (f/x) 56.6 8-10
4. Barker, Batchelor, Pickering, Thomas (f/x) 56.5 13-11
5. Riss, Kerr, Lawson, King 57.0 16-14
6. Doyle, Pickering, Worrall, Hume 57.0 19-17
7. Iversen, Jorgensen, Batchelor, Barker 57.9 20-22
8. Batchelor, Kerr, Hume, Thomas 56.8 24-24
9. Riss, Worrall, Pickering, King 57.2 27-27
10. Doyle, Barker, Iversen, Jorgensen 57.9 32-28
11. Kerr, Lawson, Batchelor, Barker 57.4 33-33
12. Worrall, King, Iversen, Barker 57.1 35-37
13. Doyle, Lawson, Pickering, Batchelor 56.3 38-40
14. Riss, Barker, Worrall, Jorgensen 57.2 43-41
15. Doyle, Lawson, Iversen, Riss 57.5 46-44
Witches 3 points, Stars 1 pt
Premiership
P Pts
Ipswich 5 12
Belle Vue 6 11
Wolves 5 11
Sheffield 4 9
King’s Lynn 5 8
Peterborough 5 0
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