BELLE VUE ACES 57-35 OXFORD CHEETAHS – (Belle Vue win B.P 101-81)
In this look back at old Belle Vue meetings, we have to go back to Wednesday, July 28th 1999, as the Aces were looking to top the league standings with both a victory and the bonus point in front of the SKY TV cameras. Their opponents to the Belle Vue Greyhound Stadium were the Oxford Cheetahs, and I stand to be corrected on this, but I believe this was the first time that SKY had covered both meetings of a fixture in their early coverage on the Elite League. The previous fixture between the two produced a close meeting at the start of July at Cowley Stadium, where it saw the Cheetahs take a 46-44 victory on home shale.
Since that loss – the Aces had won four out of their next five league meetings, which included a stunning double over Eastbourne, in which the Manchester side recorded a 53-37 away win down on the south coast, before hammering the Eagles at home in the return fixture. Other matches saw Belle Vue lead Wolverhampton 11-7 at Monmore Green – that was until the rain washed that meeting out with three races ridden, as the only blip came in a narrow 46-44 defeat down at Ipswich, but the Aces would bounce back the following night, courtesy of a 48-42 win over the King’s Lynn Knights at Kirky lane.
The hosts immediately went ahead in the battle for the bonus point, as Andy Smith and Ronnie Correy picked up a maximum 5-1 to give the Aces the early lead in the match, while Belle Vue reserve Finnish rider Kaj Laukkanen – saw him having a nightmare start to his night. That was after he first touched the tapes and was forced to go off a 15 metre handicap in the rerun, before adding insult to injury and fell off at the back while failing to complete a lap. In the rerun itself – it saw Jason Hawkes winning the reserves race ahead of the Oxford pairing of Alun Rossiter and Laurence Hare for a shared heat, as it started the trend of 3-3’s.
Belle Vue’s Jimmy Nielsen saw the World Number 2 storming around both Craig Boyce and Steve Johnston on the outside to take victory in Heat three, while Jason Lyons replicated the same feat in the very next race and saw his teammate in Jason Hawkes battling with Laurence Hare, but saw the Cheetahs rider holding third. Heat Six saw both Aces in Andy Smith and Ronnie Correy making starts, that was until a brilliant move by Paul Hurry saw him sweeping around both off the fourth bend of the opening lap to lead, with a couple laps later seeing Smith returning the compliment, by squeezing between both Hurry and the fence to pull off a stunning pass that resulted in a race win and gave the hosts a 21-15 lead.
Belle Vue would begin to pull clear in the contest, as the Cheetahs struggled badly for setups and also had the Aces using home track advantage. One of those were Kaj Laukkanen, as the ‘Flyin Finn’ used the banking of the fourth bend to fire his way past both Boyce and Johnston, with the Belle Vue reserve joining Lyons up front for another 5-1 to the Aces and move ten clear at 26-16.
Andy Smith was the first race winner from the outside gate in Heat 8 – with ‘foxy’ making it three wins in three, while Jan Staechmann denied the home side another 5-1 advantage, having seen the Dane pip Jason Hawkes to second on the run to the line. The Cheetahs luck was summed up by Paul Hurry’s engine failure in Heat 9, as the Oxford rider had left both Jimmy Nielsen and Kaj Laukkanen for dead until his bike packed up and saw it gifting the hosts a 5-1 to leave the scores at 35-19.
Two more 5-1’s from the Aces took the lead past the 20 points barrier, as it saw Belle Vue move to the top of the standings with still four races to go. Jimmy Nielsen then held off both Todd Wiltshire and Jan Staechmann in heat 12, while Lyons and Correy racked up the sixth maximum of the match in Heat 13, as Belle Vue were eyeing up sixty points. Paul Hurry came in as a tactical substitute going 15 metres back in Heat 14, but Kaj Laukkanen finished with a flourish to take the race win and see him going unbeaten to an opposing rider all night after his first ride. Oxford gained a 4-3 race advantage from it though, with Hurry’s points counting for double as a tactical sub.
Aces boss John Perrin – put two unbeaten riders in heat 15, as Jimmy Nielsen and Jason Lyons went out in the six-lapper, while Oxford used captain Craig Boyce and Paul Hurry. Nielsen missed the gate and was out of it stuck at the back, while Lyons looked imperious out front only to have his bike packing up at the starting of the penultimate lap, to which the Cheetahs ended the night on a high with a consolation 5-1.
Youtube :Aces vs Cheetahs
ACES: 57
Ronnie Correy 2’, 1, 3, 2’ = 8+2
Andy Smith 3, 3, 3, 2’ = 11+1
Jimmy Nielsen 3, 3, 3, 3, 1 = 13
Rene Madsen 0, 0, 0 = 0
Jason Lyons 3, 3, 3, 3, EF = 12
Kaj Laukkanen F, 2’, 2, 2’, 3 = 9+3
Jason Hawkes 3, 0, 1 = 4
CHEETAHS: 35
Todd Wiltshire 0, 2, 0 = 2
Jan Staechmann 1, 2, 2, 1, 1 = 7+1
Steve Johnston 1’, 0, 0 = 1+1
Craig Boyce 2, 1, 1, 2, 3 = 9
Paul Hurry 2, 2, ef, 1, 4, 2 = 11
Alun Rossiter 2, 0, 1 = 2+1
Laurence Hare 1, 2, 0 = 3+1
A Track With A VUE 