The Ipswich Witches fell to their first defeat at Foxhall in the Premiership this season as they were beaten 54-36 by Leicester last night.
The hosts went into the fixture without their top two riders with Jason Doyle having been ruled out for the season and Emil Sayfutdinov having crashed out at Sheffield last week.
Rider replacement and Scott Nicholls were covering their absences whilst the visitors had Drew Kemp in for Craig Cook at reserve.
A tough task became even tougher as Ipswich lost Adam Ellis after just one heat following a crash, leaving them with just five riders to finish the meeting. That task proved impossible as the Lions raced to three league points. Nicholls top scored with 13.
Heat one set the tone for how the evening would pan out for the home team. With the Lions on a maximum, Max Fricke seemed to get out of shape causing Ellis to try and avoid him which resulted in Ellis hitting the deck and being excluded from the race.
With the Witches man having taken a knock to the head that ruled him out of the rest of the night, leaving the Suffolk side with a mountain to climb.
Leicester hit a 1-5 in the re-run, but Keynan Rew and Jordan Jenkins hit back in heat two with a maximum of their own.
Sam Masters held off Nicholls to win heat three in a Lions 2-4 and heat four was stopped as Rew slid off on the first turn having made the gate meaning he was excluded. Danny King won a shared re-run leaving the visitors 11-13 in front.
Leicester raced to a maximum in heat five and Ritchie Hawkins used his tactical substitute ride early putting King in heat six, but the away side registered a 2-4.
Luke Becker and Masters extended the lead with a 1-5 in heat seven, but the Witches were not throwing the towel in as Rew flew to victory in heat eight with Jenkins third for a 4-2 to make it 19-29.
Nicholls powered himself to the win in heat nine in another 4-2 to Ipswich but that was to be the last heat advantage for the hosts.
Leicester recorded a heat advantage in heat 10 before a maximum in heat 11 put them on the brink of victory. A shared heat 12 made the score 29-43.
Heat 13 was awarded as a 1-5 to the away side as King went into the air fence as he tried to chase the Lions pair out front.
A 3-3 followed in heat 14 and Nicholls won a shared heat 15 to end a challenging night for the Witches.
Team boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was a really tough night. It was always going to be tough but then losing Adam in the first race made it a daunting task for us all.
"The boys fought their hearts out, they were nearly in every race between them. If anything, most of them were guilty of over-riding to compensate for everything and that is something I can’t criticise at all.
"They gave everything for the team again and we will come again next week."
He added: “We were aiming to win the league but given our current circumstances if that does not happen it is completely understandable.
"The main thing is that we are already secured in the play-offs, we will get through this tough period, and we will come back as strong as possible before the cup final and play-offs.”
IPSWICH 36: Jason Doyle R/R, Adam Ellis 0 (Withdrawn), Scott Nicholls (G) 13, Dan Thompson (RS) 4, Danny King (c) 7, Keynan Rew 8+1, Jordan Jenkins 4+2.
LEICESTER 54: Max Fricke (c) 10+2 (Paid Maximum), Richard Lawson 12+1, Sam Masters 9+1, Luke Becker 11+1, Ryan Douglas 9+1, Drew Kemp (G) 2, Sam Hagon (RS) 1+1.
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