SOMERSET Rebels suffered a 50-43 defeat at Ipswich Witches on Thursday night.

A perfect start came from a Jason Doyle, Kyle Newman one-two to put Rebels 5-1 up.

But Ipswich responded as claimed a 5-1 win in heat two and three to take the lead.

Heat four was tied but then Ipswich started to open up a gulf in points with 4-2 wins in heats five and six.

After a re-run, Doyle rescued heat seven as the Rebels claimed a 3-3 tie and Newman did the same to ensure they got a share of the points in heat eight.

But Ipswich were relentless and won heat nine 4-2 and tied heat ten to ensure the ten-point gap remained intact.

A tactical ride in heat 11 helped the Rebels half the deficit to five points as Doyle claimed first place.

Alex Davies won heat 12 and Doyle claimed heat 13 as the gap in points between the teams closed again to just three points.

The penultimate heat was tied but following a re-run in the final heat, Ipswich's Ben Barker broke the Rebels hopes of a win to claim a maximum 5-1 heat win as give Ipswich the 50-43 victory.

* SOMERSET Rebels were once again denied by the weather in their meeting with Sheffield Tigers on Friday night.

Both teams managed to get four heats in before the track became too wet following a downpour at the Oaktree Arena.

Kyle Newman had put the Rebels in a 4-2 lead as he won heat one before Tom Perry and Nicolai Klindt won heats two and three to give the Rebels a commanding 14-4 lead.

Heat four saw another Rebel finish first as Josh Grajczonek showed his class but with the scores at 18-6 in the Rebels' favour, the heavens opened, abandoning the meeting.

* THE Rebels take a break from track action at the Oaktree Arena this week, their next fixture is away at Scunthorpe on Bank Holiday Monday before they welcome the Scorpions back to Somerset two days later (May 29).

Despite the break, a number of Somerset riders will still be in action, none more so than Tom Perry, who will be a member of the Great Britain quartet that will be competing in Poland in the second semi-final of the Under-21 Speedway World Cup.