Ipswich Witches 44, Lakeside Hammers 48
LAKESIDE Hammers produced another great performance to secure Thursday evening's Elite League speedway win at derby rivals Ipswich.

Top scorer for Hammers was Kauko Nieminen (16+1) on a night when the three points for an away win secured their position in at least second place, and they are now just four points behind leaders Poole, who have one meeting left, with two matches in hand.

Next week Hammers race three times and they could emerge on top of the table at the end of the week - a remarkable change in fortunes for a team that has spent recent seasons in the doldrums, their only reward being the wooden spoon!

They will certainly go into the play-off series in great heart with a home meeting secured in the semi-final and full of resilience after overcoming a recent series of injury setbacks that would have crippled most teams.

This evening Andreas Jonsson led the charge to securing the win with five heat wins from five rides, but he was ably supported through the night by his teammates, both permanent and temporary.

Regular Hammer Leigh Lanham came behind him in the opening heat to get Hammers off to a 5-1 flier and flying Finn Nieminen, a recent recruit from Workington, picked up three heat wins and three seconds on a night when Hammers were never headed.

Perhaps the only downside on the night was a fall for Ricky Kling in the second heat. The young Swede made his way very gingerly back to the pits looking extremely shaken and it was no surprise when he also withdrew from the rest of the meeting. Hammers also lost Edward Kennett to injury and could only put out one rider in heat 13, but that was won by Jonsson anyway.

Ipswich Witches: 1. Piotr Swiderski 16; 2. Tobias Kroner 0; 3. Rider Replacement; 4. Simon Lambert 0; 5. Rory Schlein 11+2; 6. Steve Johnston 12+1; 7. Chris Schramm 5+2.

Lakeside Hammers: 1. Andreas Jonsson 15; 2. Leigh Lanham 5+2; 3. Rider Replacement; 4. Tomas Topinka 9+1; 5. Edward Kennett 3+1; 6. Ricky Kling 0; 7. Kauko Nieminen 16+1.

Heat-by-heat:
1: Jonsson, Lanham, Swiderski, Kroner(fx) (1-5) (1-5)
2: Nieminen, Johnston, Schramm, Kling(f) (3-3) (4-8)
3: Schlein, Topinka, Lanham, Lambert (3-3) (7-11)
4: Schlein, Nieminen, Schramm, Kennett(fx) (4-2) (11-13)
5: Jonsson, Johnston, Lanham, Lambert (2-4) (13-17)
6: Swiderski, Nieminen, Schramm, Kennett(ret) (4-2) (17-19)
7: Topinka, Johnston, Kennett, Schlein(ret) (2-4) (19-23)
8: Nieminen, Johnston, Lanham, Schramm (2-4) (21-27)
9: Nieminen, Kennett, Schramm, Lambert (1-5) (22-32)
10: Jonsson, Swiderski(Tactical Ride), Johnston, Topinka (5-3) (27-35)
11: Jonsson, Schlein, Schramm, Lanham (3-3) (30-38)
12: Swiderski, Nieminen, Topinka, Schlein(Tactical Substitute 15m) (3-3) (33-41)
13: Jonsson, Swiderski, Schlein (3 riders only) (3-3) (36-44)
14: Johnston, Topinka, Nieminen, Schramm (3-3) (39-47)
15: Swiderski, Schlein, Topinka, Lanham (5-1) (44-48)

Elite League table, up to and inc Thursday, September 11

1 Poole 31 14 0 2 8 0 7 1562 1269 52 2 Lakeside 29 13 0 1 7 1 7 1407 1246 48 3 Swindon 31 12 2 2 5 0 10 1455 1382 41 4 Ipswich 28 10 0 4 4 2 8 1294 1274 34 5 Eastbourne 30 10 0 4 4 0 12 1353 1398 32 6 Belle Vue 31 12 0 3 0 2 14 1373 1451 26 7 Coventry 26 8 2 4 1 0 11 1139 1231 21 8 Peterborough 27 8 1 3 1 0 14 1115 1323 20 9 Wolverhampton 27 8 0 7 0 0 12 1165 1299 16