BELLE VUE ACES 55 – 35 IPSWICH WITCHES
Belle Vue maintained their unbeaten start to the Premiership this season with a 55-35 victory over an injury-hit Ipswich Witches side on Monday night – as Charles Wright led the way for the Aces with a season-high 13+1. During an impromptu interview mid-meeting, the former British Champions admitted that he had really struggled for power in his bikes so far this year, but tonight saw him using his new bikes and engines, and he looked supercharged – having dropped just a single point all night to an opposing rider.
The sides met a couple of weeks ago down at Foxhall, and to where the sides drew 45-45 in an entertaining meeting. However, the Witches came to Manchester missing the likes of former Aces legend Jason Crump through Broken Ribs that he sustained in a crash at Wolves last Monday, plus Jordan Stewart who suffered a nasty crash for Redcar at Birmingham saw him with ribs and a collarbone injury to go along with Cameron Heeps who crashed in the final race against King’s Lynn last Thursday at home. In came Aaron Summers for Heeps, rider replacement for Stewart and a handy guest in ex Aces man Craig Cook for that of Crump.
Mark Lemon saw him tinkering with the line-up to give it a gentle shake up of sorts for the visit of the Witches. Charles Wright who had been struggling at number five swapped positions with Dan Bewley, as the in-form Bewley moved up from third heat leader to now second heat leader and seemed to work out brilliantly overall for the Aces.
The talk amongst Belle Vue so far has been that of their lack of gating and getting off to slow starts at home – with their previous meetings against Sheffield and especially against Peterborough last week where the home side found themselves trailing by eight points, before coming back to snatch a late draw. On a track that personally, seemed to be very gate and go friendly – the Aces finally found their gating boots to come up trumps in the meeting. Brady Kurtz and Richie Worrall started the meeting with an easy 5-1 for the home side in heat one, before Jye Etheridge made a fantastic gate to blast away from tapes and take the reserves race in heat two, with the talented Witches duo in Drew Kemp and Anders Rowe struggling to catch him. Jake Allen picked up the first of three race winners that Ipswich could muster, meanwhile, Charles Wright produced a great move to get by Anders Rowe for third, and see a share of the points in Heat three.
Heat four was a turn up for the books you could say, as with Dan Bewley and Danny King involved, it looked like it was a toss up between the pair as to who would take the race win, given that they are in good form of late. But speedway sadly isn’t raced on paper, and so surprisingly saw both of them at the back with Drew Kemp at the front fending off Jye Etheridge for a 4-2 to the visitors and have Bewley coming last. That proved to be the only race advantage for Ipswich all evening as the next heat saw the partnership of Steve Worrall and Charles Wright beginning to blossom. Both men made the gate and pulled well clear of the two opposing riders, with the Aces recording a 5-1 and saw them holding a ‘overture’ lead over the Witches, leading 18-12.
Danny King shown his liking for the Manchester circuit yet again in Heat six – as he flew from the tapes and headed straight for the outside where he likes it, as Kurtz and Worrall were forced to settle for second and third with King recording the fastest time of the night, clocking 59.93. After a pointless opening ride for Dan Bewley, he made amends in his next race, as he and Tom Brennan picked up a 4-2 for the home side to lead 25-17 after seven races gone. Jye Etheridge saw his good start to the meeting carrying on into Heat Eight, with the Australian and Richie Worrall taking a 4-2 with Ipswich’s Jake Allen splitting the two for second, and would be a place he would get accustomated to finishing as the night went on.
Steve Worrall and Charles Wright went on to collect their second 5-1 of the match in Heat 9, with both riders heading for the outside line and making sure they stopped any potential pass from Danny King as the plan worked a treat. Witches team manager Chris Louis immediately put King in as a tactical substitute in the very next race, but while both Witches kept out Brady Kurtz, they couldn’t get close to Richie Worrall who took the race win for a 3-3. Bewley made it two wins out of three rides in heat 10, but the Ipswich duo of Craig Cook and Jake Allen couldn’t gain ground on the pocket rocket and so saw another second shared heat. Steve followed his brother Richie’s exploits from a couple races earlier to win Heat 12, as the home side was dominating and creeping towards the magical forty-five mark, leading 43-29.
Heat 13 saw Craig Cook out in front and looking good for the Witches – but as it later turned out a tyre problem hampered him late on in the race, and that allowed Brady Kurtz to challenge him with a pass up the inside on the final lap to take the win and see a 4-2 going the way of the home side for a victory in the meeting. Charles Wright’s new found confidence was on show in the penultimate race of the night, with the Witches in Allen and Kemp making the better start initially, but a brilliant cut back on the fourth bend of the opening lap saw the Aces man powering into the lead and onto victory.
The final race of the night was building up to be an incredible race, as Steve Worrall, Charles Wright and Jake Allen all passed and repassed each other for a lap or two, before Wright went on and saw Worrall trying to fend off Allen who wouldn’t give up; but sadly ran out of room and his balance and slid off going into Worrall on the second bend for the race to be awarded as a 5-1 to the Mancunians and win by twenty-points. Luckily, no one was injured in the mini collision and the Witches can be glad that Allen walked back fine to the pits. Victory sees Mark Lemon’s men remaining top of the table three clear of rivals Wolves but with a long way to go yet.
Belle Vue Aces = 55
- Brady Kurtz 3 2 0 3 = 8
- Richie Worrall 2* 1* 1 3 = 7+2
- Steve Worrall (C) 1* 3 2* 3 2* = 11+3
- Charles Wright 2 2* 3 3 3 = 13+1
- Dan Bewley 0 3 3 1 = 7
- Tom Brennan 0 1 0 0 = 1
- Jye Etheridge 3 2 3 0 = 8
Ipswich Witches = 35
- Craig Cook (G) 1 0 1* 2 = 4+1
- Jordan Stewart R/R [DK-0] [AR-1] [JA-2] [DK-2] = 5
- Aaron Summers (G) 0 0 2 = 2
- Jake Allen 3 2 2 2 2 Ex = 11
- Danny King (C) 1 3 1 1! 0 = 6
- Anders Rowe 1* 1 0 R 1* = 3+2
- Drew Kemp 0 2 3 0 2 1* 1 = 9+1
Rider of the Night: Charles Wright – Rode the best I’ve seen this season and the new engines/bikes looked to have boosted his confidence and can count himself unlucky on missing out of a maximum. His pass on Rowe in Heat 5 boosted his confidence and the clever tactical mind was one of a champion in Heat 14, as knowing he had the speed and quick bikes he out thought the Ipswich riders to cut back for that lovely pass and win to boot.
Battler of the Night: Tom Brennan – Looked to be down on power and struggled with his starts, but he rode his heart out and tried everything he could to get his bike working but just couldn’t get anything from it. His score really doesn’t tell the full story of how he was ridden in the meeting for me.
A Track With A VUE 