Ipswich Witches 42 Newport Wasps 48.

Newport Mike Manning Wasps have one foot in the British Premier League Knockout Cup semi-finals following this famous win in Suffolk.

Skipper Leigh Lanham and his team will seek to complete their mission at their Queensway Meadows Stadium home when the teams meet in the second leg of their quarter-final clash on Saturday night - tapes up at 7.00pm.

There’s no doubt that the Wasps began this tie as under-dogs at Ipswich’s Foxhall Stadium HQ, but a brilliant display earned them a magnificent success.

The match-up began with an all-Australian affair with Taylor Poole winning from Jason Doyle, Kevin Doolan third and Justin Sedgmen last as the home side posted a 4-2 win.

Heat two saw Wasps' other Aussies, in-form Todd Kurtz and Mark Jones, up against Chris Mills and Jerran Hart - who destroyed the starting tapes and was forced to take part in the re-run off a 15-metre handicap.

That proved to much ground to recover, although it was team-mate Mills who took the chequered flag as the heat finished level at 3-3 - Jones second and Kurtz third.

Next out for the Wasps were Swedish star Robin Aspegren and Danish ace Charlie Gjedde against Frenchman Matt Tresarrieu and Gjedde's compatriot Morten Risager.

It was another re-run after Aspegren had come to grief on bend two of lap one and was excluded, but it was Gjedde who took the honours after he had overturned a home 5-1 at the gate.

The 3-3 draw made it 10-8 to the home side and signalled the arrival on track of Wasps’ Ipswich-born skipper Leigh Lanham, who was partnered by Kurtz against another Dane in Lasse Bjerre and Mills.

The race though was a disaster for the visitors after Bjerre and Mills had gated the better to post a 5-1 maximum.

Doyle and Sedgman teamed up again in heat five versus Tresarrieu and Risager and for once, Lady Luck smiled on the Wasps.

Tresarrieu appeared to encounter engine problems when leading and it allowed Sedgmen and Doyle to roar away for a much-needed 5-1 to reduce the score to just 16-14.

Lanham and Jones next combined to take on Doolan and Poole and after Poole fell at the first bend, a re-run was ordered with all four riders back to the start.

However the race was soon stopped again when Poole had a bike problem with Doolan crashing into the back of him.

The second re-run took place with the exclusion of Poole and the Wasps took full advantage of their numerical advantage to take it 4-2 - although Lanham and Doolan twice swapped the lead before the Newport rider prevailed.

The 4-2 put the score level at 18-18 and with successive 3-3 draws in heats seven and eight, parity appeared to be the order of the day.

Lanham and Jones team up again for race nine, this time against Tresarrieu and Risager - and it was yet another 3-3 as Lanham came home first from the two home riders.

Heat 10 produced the fourth successive level race, Doolan getting the nod ahead of Gjedde and Aspegren, before Ipswich finally broke the deadlock.

Bjerre beat Doyle to the finishing line with Hart coming third for a home 4-2 and heat 12 saw Kurtz appear in a reserve switch for Jones.

That meant he partnered Aspegren against Tresarrieu and Mills and the move worked in so much as Kurtz won the race, although it was another drawn outcome with Aspegren coming last.

Then came the moment when the Wasps finally took the lead, Lanham and Doyle roaring away from Doolan for a brilliant 5-1 to head Ipswich by 40-38 with just two heats remaining.

Gjedde won heat 14 only for Kurtz to finish fourth to make it 3-3 with the Wasps nominating Lanham and Gjedde to compete in the 15th and final heat against home pair Doolan and Bjerre.

And when Lanham and Gjedde scorched the Ipswich pair 5-1, it sparked wild celebrations among visiting fans, riders and management alike.

Ipswich Witches 42: 1 - Kevin Doolan (capt) 8(5); 2 - Taylor Poole 3(4); 3 - Matt Tresarrieu 5+1(4); 4 - Morten Risager 6+1(4); 5 - Lasse Bjerre 9(5); 6 - Jerran Hart 1(3); 7 - Chris Mills 10+3(5).

Newport Mike Manning Wasps 48: 1 - Jason Doyle 8+2(4); 2 - Justin Sedgmen 4+1(4); 3 - Robin Aspegren 2+2(4): 4 - Charlie Gjedde 12+1(5); 5 - Leigh Lanham (capt) 13(5); 6 - Mark Jones 3(3); 7 - Todd Kurtz 6+1(5).

* The winners will meet either Sheffield Tigers or Workington Comets, whose first-leg encounter in Yorkshire tonight ended in 50-40 victory for the home club and they meet again in the return in Cumbria on Saturday night.

*In a British Premier League clash, hosts Redcar Bears thrashed bottom-placed Plymouth Devils 62-30.

ENDS