Ford: Plenty more to come from THJ after Ipswich victory

Danny Ford thanked Thomas H Jonasson for answering the Pirates’ SOS call – and for “more than doing his job” in last night’s morale-boosting win at Ipswich.

The Pirates held off a spirited Witches fightback having edged in front thanks to Jonasson’s heat seven win and Nicolai Klindt’s second place.

And that narrow lead soon became an eight-point advantage when Brady Kurtz and Klindt held off the attentions of Witches new boy Niels-Kristian Iversen and Jake Allen.

A Witches 4-2 in race 13, though, was followed by a 5-1 in heat 14 and suddenly the hosts were within two points of the Pirates.

Klindt, though, trapped in front of Iversen in the final heat, with Kurtz splitting the Dane and Chris Harris for a Pirates 4-2 that secured a 47-43 victory.

For Jonasson, who ended the night with paid six from six rides, it was his first time on British league racing shale for almost six years and Ford believes there is plenty more to come from him – particularly at Wimborne Road.

Ford said: “Thomas was only confirmed in our one-to-seven earlier this week and Ipswich is not the easiest place to go for your first British league race in many years.

“I think that rustiness showed in Thomas’s first race when he was left trailing, but once he got dialled in we saw some really promising signs and he more than did his job.

“He was controversially excluded from heat nine after winning heat seven so I think there’s a lot more to come from him.

“We’ve got three meetings at home from our final four, so if Thomas can get comfortable quickly at Wimborne Road, that will be a huge boost for us going into the play-offs.”

Kurtz finished the night with paid 13 from six rides, while Klindt bounced back to form after a couple of quiet meetings against Swindon and Wolverhampton to lead the Pirates scoring with paid 14 from five.

Nico Covatti, meanwhile, marked his first full meeting in the main body of the Pirates septet with paid eight.

Ford added: “It’s never easy jumping from reserve to number two, but Nico took it in his stride and fired in some crucial points, particularly in heat five when he followed Jack Holder home to level the scores.

“It was great to see Nicolai back to his best as well and he and Brady really did lead from the front in Josh Grajczonek’s absence.”

Read the full report from Foxhall here.