Wolves speedway cruise to victory

Wolves 53 Ipswich 39

Wolves cruised to victory over bottom-paced Ipswich at Monmore Green despite being without their Polish rider Adam Skornicki through injury.

Once the track had been sorted out after the injury to the track curator Alan 'Doc' Bridgett, it was a night of fine racing that saw Wolves cement second place in the league.

It's probably no coincidence that several riders struggled with the surface in the first few heats.

Repeated grading brought matters pretty much back to normal and a weakened Ipswich side provided enough spirited commitment to keep Wolves on their toes.

Scott Nicholls - who will ruffle a few feathers at Cardiff on Saturday as the Grand Prix wildcard - finished morally honours even with home ace Fredrik Lindgren.

Nicholls had the advantage in heat one after brusquely pushing the Swede wide only for Dawid Stachyra's fall to give Lindgren a second opportunity in the rerun which he accepted gratefully.

It was Lindgren all the way in heat 13 but in the final race Nicholls got the drop, and although 'Fast Freddie' blasted past Robert Miskowiak and gave enthusiastic chase in defence of his maximum, the Witches' lead was not to be denied.

Nicholls, converting a double-point ride as early as heat five, and the combative Miskowiak provided spirited resistance to an admirably solid Wolves side.

The Witches might well have prospered more had Miskowiak and Stachyra not run into each other early in heat six, the former grinding to a halt, or Danny King not take a fall while leading his first race.

It was not a night to remember for the Ipswich captain, whose spirited chase and last-bend pass of Matt Wethers in heat seven actually caused his side a net loss by closing the gap between the teams to 11 points and preventing Miskowiak's win in the following race being achieved for double points.

King himself was eventually nominated for black and white helmet cover duties in the twelfth.

In one of those rich ironies, that haunt team managers, he was relegated to the back while the hitherto low-scoring Stachyra duly popped out of the trap to win in fine style.

Wolves, meanwhile, marched happily on.

Lindgren dropped just the one point while Nicolai Klindt produced a welcome return to form with double figures. Ty Proctor, accumulating bonus points on a scale not seen since Joe Screen's time with the club earlier this season, was again predatory and skipper Tai Woffinden continues his gradual progress towards the form of late 2009.

Again there was chunky scoring from the reserve pairing of Wethers, whose astute riding has been such a feature of recent matches, and Ludvig Lindgren.

The younger Lindgren's confidence is currently very high and the way in which he went wheel to wheel with the likes of Miskowiak is not going to dent it.

By Tim Hamblin