It’s 24 rides and counting as speedway ace Fredrik Lindgren helped fire Wolves back on top of the Elite League.

The dashing Swede is now unbeaten in the league at Monmore Green for five matches and 24 heats, but how he had to work at it against Ipswich guest Adam Shields.

Off track the Australian is one of the most pleasant and courteous sportsmen you could care to meet. On it he asks and gives no quarter – twice last night he got the drop on his rival.

On both occasions Lindgren gave it the big, brave handful of throttle to blast round the outside coming off bend four – just as he did to Shields in the league match against Lakeside in March.

Curiously it was against Ipswich that Lindgren last tasted regular season league defeat at the Green, as Piotr Swiderski completed a stunning 15-point full house last September.

But hard as the Pole fought, there was no chance of a repeat this time round.

Lindgren’s extraordinary run has had the statisticians poring over the record books. The consensus is that Peter Karlsson holds the palm for consecutive unbeaten league races at home on 29.

It means Lindgren could equal the mark next week when the Parrys International Wolves host high-flying Swindon, though the Robins in general and their talismanic number one Leigh Adams in particular might have something to say about that.

While one hot streak continues, another finally ended on a bitterly cold night when Shields hung on for second spot in heat 13 and relegated Karlsson to third.

It snapped a home sequence of nine successive 5-1s in league and cup for the two Swedes but the 4-2 did put the home side 10 clear with two heats to go and all but guaranteed them the league points.

Daniel King took the chequered flag for the Witches in heat 14 – one of only three race wins for the visitors – which gave them a theoretical shot at salvaging a league point if they could produce a 5-1 in the last.

Theoretical it may have been but practical it was not, as Lindgren hit the front and Karlsson then unfurled a barely credible turn of pace on the wide run to round Shields and Lindgren.

The gallant Shields, ever willing, hurled himself wide off the fourth bend in a bid to repass but succeeded only in carrying out a full 360-degree spin, somehow remaining on board his machine, and then withdrawing .

Karlsson had also shown his prowess for the pass in heat six, bursting under Swiderski to hit the front although Nicolai Klindt could claim an assist.

The Dane, worth more than his five points, looked so threatening on the wide run that Swiderski had to move out to cover, leaving PK to power through.

In fact the lively Klindt had looked pacy from the very first heat, becoming poised to claim the notable scalp of Shields only to lock up completely on the pits bend.

But he took heat eight in fine style and his return to form is doubly welcome, as Wolves have three league matches in four days commencing with Friday’s visit to Coventry.

Lindgren’s domination of the headlines has allowed Tai Woffinden to operate under the radar with a string of good scores in his Elite League debut season.

It would be facile to describe the performance as a breakthrough, for a rider who already has a high-scoring Great Britain World Cup appearance under his belt, but the 18-year-old displayed his full range of ability last night.

He worked his way past both Ipswich riders in heat three – though Carl Wilkinson, who fell in the course of the manoeuvre, was clearly not happy – and showed his mettle with a brave pass of Swiderski six races later.

Woffinden dropped just a point all night and with Adam Skornicki weighing in with paid eight, Wolves were able to cover their low return at reserve.

The Witches plugged away, with Polish reserve Dawid Stachyra looking useful, but this match – again – was all about Lindgren.