The Witches, continually sharp at the gate, showed all their track experience and guile to build up a commanding lead ahead of last night's second leg at Foxhall.

But the home officials and riders were not downhearted, as club boss Buster Chapman pointed out: "Deep down we never expected to win this one," he said.

"The Polish riders in the Ipswich team have been busy practising hard and we haven't had that luxury.

"But I was impressed with the way our lads tackled the job and I think the action and excitement we saw in the last race was worth the admission price alone."

In that race, skipper Tomas Topinka made the gate ahead of the unbeaten Jarek Hampel, while Kevin Doolan and Piotr Swiderski were just a yard behind contesting third place. It was like that until the back straight of the last lap when Hampel made his move on Topinka and found a gap to take the lead and complete his 15-point maximum.

Topinka had won the cheers of the Money Centre Stars fans when he moved up from third to first in a couple of laps in Heat 1, while Doolan grabbed a couple of wins from his first two starts.

But Ipswich had too much strength in depth, illustrated by having Chris Schramm at reserve – a heat leader at Newport last season.

And either side of the interval the Witches gained the initiative in six successive races to build up a big lead. Hampel, a Grand Prix rider last year, was a class act while the evergreen Chris Louis dropped only one point.

However there were some moments to savour for the Stars, especially when John Oliver had an impressive ride in Heat 11 and new-boy Kozza Smith a battling second place in Heat 14.

They will be looking to build on that next week, with home matches against Mildenhall (Wednesday) and Birmingham (Good Friday) as the Premier Trophy campaign gets underway.

Lynn: Tomas Topinka 11 (5 rides), Shaun Tacey 2 (4 rides), Kevin Doolan 12 (5 rides), Kozza Smith 3 (4 rides), Rusty Harrison 2+1 (4 rides), John Oliver 3 (4 rides), Simon Lambert 1 (5 rides).

Ipswich: Robert Miskoviak 4+1 (4 rides), Piotr Swiderski 10+1 (5 rides), Chris Louis 10+1 (4 rides), Steve Johnston 7 (4 rides), Jarek Hampel 15 (5 rides), Tobi Kroner 5+1 (4 rides), Chris Schramm 7+1 (4 rides).