Northampton delighted by home debut despite Ipswich loss
Northampton Foxes say they are delighted by the response to their first home meeting despite losing to Ipswich Witches in the Knockout Cup.
Northampton were awarded a Premiership place in March [BBC Look East] Northampton Foxes are delighted by the response to their first home meeting since joining British speedway's top flight despite losing to Ipswich Witches. They were beaten 48-41 in the Knockout Cup by the reigning Premiership champions at the Northampton International Shaleway, near Brafield-On-The-Green. "Of course it was disappointing that we didn't win on the night, or at least run it to the last heat, but we have to look at the big picture and I think everyone has gone home happy," co-promoter Paul Hunsdon told the Foxes website.
"The main positive was that everything ran smoothly, and we showed that we can deal with a big crowd. " He added: "We delayed the start of racing by a few minutes which was the right thing to do, and I know that not a single person missed a race. "We knew there would be things to learn from opening night, and we will certainly do so, but for our opening event we have to be pleased with how it went.
" Northampton to join British Speedway's top flight All you need to know as Speedway comes to town Ipswich's Tobiasz Musielak was the highest scorer on the night with 13 points, with team-mate Richard Lawson (10+3) also reaching double figures. Heat 14 proved decisive as Northampton reserve Kye Thomson suffered a spark plug failure, ending their hopes to taking it to the final race. Northampton were awarded a Premiership place in March, bringing the list of Premiership teams back up to six following the loss of Birmingham and Oxford at the end of last season.
Jaimon Lidsey scored 7+1 points for Northampton Foxes [BBC Look East] "To have Northampton pop up in the league, it's great for British speedway," Australian rider Jaimon Lidsey told BBC Look East. "There's been some teams that have dropped out over the years due to losing their stadiums and when Northampton came on board, I was all systems go, I wanted to come here. "Well done to everyone at the club who've put in so much effort in the last couple of months - there's been so much going on behind the scenes.