IPSWICH Evening Star Witches have booked in-form Australian Leigh Adams to replace injured Scott Nicholls for the Sky Bet Elite League meeting at Arena Essex.

IPSWICH Evening Star Witches have booked in-form Australian Leigh Adams to replace injured Scott Nicholls for the Sky Bet Elite League meeting at Arena Essex.

Adams won 28 consecutive Elite League races at the start of this season before being beaten at Foxhall Stadium by Hans Andersen and Nicholls – ironically in the re-run of the race where Nicholls suffered a bad burn to the back of his left knee.

It was Adams who went into the fence with Nicholls, with the Oxford rider able to escape unscathed on April 24.

And Adams went on to win the Swedish Grand Prix in the Olympic Stadium, Stockholm on Saturday night – a meeting Nicholls had to withdraw from before entering hospital for a skin graft.

Peterborough's Lee Richardson was one of the frustrated riders in the Foxhall pits yesterday when the Bank Holiday home fixture with Arena Essex was rained off.

He was due to guest for Nicholls in an Ipswich team that would have included the return of Jesper B Jenson from injury and 17-year-old Australian Trevor Harding as a replacement for Danny Bird, who rode for Reading at Exeter in the morning.

Persistent rain from around 11am put paid to a meeting which was was due to start at 2.30pm. This was put back to 6pm as the forecast was for the weather to improve, but with no sign of any improvement a halt was called at 3.45pm.

"The sun came out in the early evening, but the damage had been done," said Witches promoter John Louis. "The first two bends were under water.

"We did all we could, and were not playing at it. We made a serious attempt to get the match on, and when original referee Frank Ebdon said he was unable to stay we called up Mick Bates from the King's Lynn area. We also arranged for a change in medical cover.

"I would like to apologise to our fans who were on the telephone and at the stadium.

"Most of the riders were at Foxhall before we put back the original start time and stayed around until the whole thing was called off.

"We got agreement to ride a home match this Thursday, but Arena Essex were unable to agree to a return this week – so we will have to wait and see when the new date will be."

n Ipswich reserve Daniel King received a boost yesterday with the news he has been given a wild card entry into the world under-21 quarter-final in Latvia later in the month.

He said: "I was unlucky on Saturday night in the British under-21 final, as I had an engine seize when I was leading a race. I would have probably gone straight into the final had my engine not blown.

"Latvia is a big boost for me and will be a good experience."

Trevor Harding will ride for Ipswich at Arena Essex tomorrow as Danny Bird is riding in the British semi-final at King's Lynn.