WITCHES guest Scott Nicholls was excluded under the two-minute rule twice in the same race as they slumped to a heavy defeat in Dorset last night.Nicholls, guesting for Ipswich in place of Mark Loram, was down to line up in heat 15 alongside Robert Miskowiak, but he failed to get to the tapes in time for the start of the race and was excluded by referee Rod Smith.

WITCHES guest Scott Nicholls was excluded under the two-minute rule twice in the same race as they slumped to a heavy defeat in Dorset last night.

Nicholls, guesting for Ipswich in place of Mark Loram, was down to line up in heat 15 alongside Robert Miskowiak, but he failed to get to the tapes in time for the start of the race and was excluded by referee Rod Smith.

Nicholls immediately drove his bike across the centre green back to the pits to discuss what to do with team manager Mike Smillie and captain Chris Louis.

However, the Witches camp clearly took too much time deciding whether to take up the option of going with Nicholls off a 15-metre handicap in the re-run.

They could also have brought in reserve Zibi Suchecki, who had already won one race and notched up six paid points from five outings on his debut at Wimborne Road.

However, Nicholls eventually came out on to the track again and rolled up to the 15 metre line, expecting to race with a handicap against Poole pair Jason Crump and Bjarne Pedersen.

However, unknown to the Great Britain Grand Prix star, he had already been ruled out again for not meeting the two-minute time allowance and was again ushered off the track.

Ipswich were left smarting as they were thumped by 24 points, leaving them seemingly out of contention for the bonus point in the return at Foxhall on April 19.

If that wasn't bad enough, Miskowiak, who along with Nicholls was their top rider last night, took a heavy tumble in heat 15 when it was eventually started.

He was trailing Crump and Pedersen in third place when he went out of control on the fourth bend second time around.

The Pole fell off the back of his bike as he roared down the finish straight, but quickly got back on his feet again.

Miskowiak, who escaped injury, was given a lift back to the pits on the back of Crump's bike after the world champion and Pedersen were awarded a 5-0 following the Ipswich rider's exclusion.

It ended a poor night for the Witches, who were totally outclassed in the second half.

Poole: J Crump 15, E Kennett 8+2, B Pedersen 14+1, S Darkin 0, C Boyce 5+2, J Doyle 8, T Batchelor 8+3.

Ipswich: S Nicholls 10, K Jansson 4+1, C Louis 4+1, M Rempala 2, R Miskowiak 8+1, Z Suchecki 5+1, Kroner 1.

THE Evening Star Witches entertain Coventry tonight at Foxhall Stadium tonight (7.30pm), with Scott Nicholls now in opposition against his home-town club.

Ipswich welcome David Norris from Eastbourne as a guest replacement for the injured Mark Loram and Witches fans will hope he can reproduce some of the form he has shown on the Foxhall circuit in the past few seasons.

Tonight's teams

Ipswich: 1 D Norris, 2 K Jansson, 3 C Louis, 4 M Rempala, 5 R Miskowiak, 6 Z Sucheki, 7 T Kroner.

Coventry: 1 S Nicholls, 2 B Janniro, 3 R Schlein, 4 O Allen, 5 C Harris, 6 M Smolinski, 7 M Risager.