Belle Vue Suffer Bank Holiday Blues

Belle Vue brought their League Cup campaign to a disappointing close as they slipped to double 48-42 and 50-40 defeats at the hands of Wolverhampton on Easter Monday.

The Aces went into the Bank Holiday meetings already unable to qualify for the final, following their 53-37 away reversal at Sheffield last Thursday, but despite some encouraging performances – most notably from Charles Wright and Tom Brennan – they failed to make any impression on the early season cup competition.

The League Cup has highlighted the fact that the Aces are still one rider away from a successful side, and it would appear inevitable that team boss Mark Lemon will need to move to bring in a new face for the start of the serious business of the Premiership league campaign.

That however is made more difficult as any new rider would likely need to come from abroad, and applications for new work visas are seeing delays due to the Ukraine crisis.

Belle Vue suffered the worst possible start to their midday Monday home meeting as Wolverhampton skipper Sam Masters and ex-Aces skipper Steve Worrall teamed up for maximum points in heat 1.

That was cancelled out when Brady Kurtz and Tom Brennan hit back with a 5-1 in heat 4, only for Masters and Worrall to reopen the four-point gap in the next.

There was nothing to separate the two teams over the next 5 races, but Wolves looked set to stretch the lead when they gated quickly in heat 11.

However Kurtz rode the race of the day to dive under Masters and swoop around Worrall on successive laps to ensure another shared heat.

Tom Brennan and German teenager Norick Blödorn combined to pull back two points in heat 12, but the Aces could do nothing to claw back anything in the next two races, setting up a last heat decider as they went into the final race trailling 43-41.

But there was to be no home joy as the Wolves riders hit the front, and although Max Fricke and Brady Kurtz were all over Ryan Douglas, there was no way past, and the first League Cup points of the day were heading back to the Midlands.

A downpour prior to the start of the evening match left Wolverhampton’s bends three and four in a tricky condition that caught several riders out in the opening heats, and caused a delay to allow remedial work to the track.

Belle Vue’s Jye Etheridge was forced out of the meeting with an injury following a heat 1 fall, whilst home star Ryan Douglas was a faller in heat 3.

Charles Wright became the Aces first heat winner in the re-run of heat 3 – his first of five consecutive victories in a superb 16-point haul.

Kurtz and Brennan pegged back the home side to just 2 points as they took a 4-2 in heat 4.

Wolves increased the lead to 8 over the next couple of races, before Wright and Jake Allen closed the gap to six.

As with the morning meeting, the mid-match heats were deadlocked, until Wright was introduced as a Tactical Substitute in heat 12, to take a 4-2 with Allen and give the Aces hope at 38-34.

However any hopes of a shock comeback were short lived, with the home side taking maximum points from heats 13 and 15.  The Aces only managing a heat 14 advantage through Wright and Brennan.

Wright’s hopes of a perfect 18-point maximum were ruined in the final heat as the Wolves riders gated and pushed him out on the first bend.

Aces scorers:  (home)  Tom Brennan 10+2, Max Fricke 10, Charles Wright 8+1, Brady Kurtz 8, Norick Blödorn 4+1, Jye Etheridge 2+1, Jake Allen 0.

(Away):   Charles Wright 16, Tom Brennan 9, Brady Kurtz 7, Max Fricke 4+1, Jake Allen 4+1, Norick Blödorn 0, Jye Etheridge 0.

Picture by Paul Rose