Ipswich Witches comfortably saw off the challenge of Belle Vue Aces in their Craven Shield fixture, winning 52-38.

Polish superstar Tomasz Gollob was in a class of his own and looked like going through the card unbeaten, until he was taken well off the racing line by Jason Lyons on the first corner of the final heat. He had to settle for second place and 14 points overall.

Gollob received good support from skipper Chris Louis, while number two Brett Woodifield looked particularly impressive as he raced to a paid ten-point total.

Jason Bunyan was unlucky not to score more and took a tumble while challenging Lyons for second place in heat four.

Tonight (Friday) the Witches travel to Manchester for the return fixture at Kirkmanshulme Lane still needing a couple of away wins to stand any chance of qualifying for the play-offs.

Chances of qualification for the end-of-season play-offs in this competition have now almost evaporated, the Witches needing to secure another couple of away wins to stand any chance.

Ipswich scorers:

Chris Louis 10+2, Savalas Clouting 7+3, Toni Svab 8+1, Tomas Topinka 7+1, Tomasz Gollob 14, Savalas Clouting 5, Jason Bunyan 1.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.