Reigning Premiership champions Belle Vue return to the scene of their biggest triumph in nearly three decades when they travel to Sheffield’s Owlerton Stadium tonight (Thursday, March 23). 

The ATPI Aces launch their title defence against their local rivals in an action-packed replay of last year’s Grand Final, which also kicks off the 2023 British Speedway season. 

It’s a highly anticipated meeting, with both teams matching each other almost like-for-like on paper, and the Manchester outfit will be looking to replicate their performance when battle is joined. 

Club No.4 Charles Wright says himself and his team have got the taste for winning after last years triumph, and are hoping to do the same this year, “There was no better feeling than winning the league last year, after going 29 years without it and falling just short the year before”. “It’s going to be tough but we just have to try and do what we did last season”.

“We’ve got a couple of new faces this year who I know really well, Jaimon Lidsey’s come in who’s got bags of experience and we’ve already got arguably the best rider in the league in Dan Bewley so there are lots of positives and we’ll just have to try and go again”.

On a personal note, Wright hopes he can avoid injury this season, which was a huge issue for him in the last campaign, “I struggled with injury a lot last year, so having an injury-free season is the main thing for me, and then I just need to carry on riding like I have been doing”. 

Belle Vue launches their home Premiership campaign at the National Speedway Stadium on Monday, March 27 with the return fixture versus Sheffield, tapes up 7:30pm. 

🏃 Tour of Tameside 2023 🏃

We're proud to be delivering this year's four-day running festival, which takes place from 15 to 18 June. 

Find out more and book your place here. 

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