Northampton delighted by home debut despite Ipswich loss

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."

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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.