IPSWICH WITCHES 38 – 52 BELLE VUE ACES
Well to quote a well known line from the Bon Jovi hit ‘Livin on A Prayer’ – Belle Vue can say “We’re Halfway There!”- as the Manchester side has one foot in the Grand Final following their best away performances of the season, with a 52-38 win at Ipswich Witches in the first leg of their Premiership Semi Final at Foxhall Stadium. Mark Lemon’s side will have a 14-point lead to defend come Monday night at the National Speedway Stadium, as a solid team performance combined with guest Craig Cook chipping in with 5 points helped the Aces to draw first blood.
After two away losses down in Suffolk this season, the first being a narrow 47-43 defeat back in May where the Aces picked up their only league points barring the two wins at Peterborough; Later on in the year they fell under the Witches spell to lose out 50-40, to which the Aces were missing Charles Wright and Jye Etheridge.
Belle Vue came into this semi final with their now customary six-man team for the postseason. As they were without their number one Max Fricke who was ruled out of the playoffs following season ending injuries during Poland’s League playoffs. For the Aces, this was their 11th semi final meeting out twelve where the side has not tracked a full strength side due to injuries. That led to team manager Mark Lemon drafting in former Ace and Witches man Craig Cook to be a guest for Fricke.
Much like the two previous meetings at Foxhall this season, the home side led early on 11-7 after three races gone; however Heat 3 saw the Aces taking their first heat advantage of the night with a 4-2, that was following Rohan Tungate falling off when battling for the lead with Matej Zagar. Heat 5 saw Danny King making the initial start, but Craig Cook came up the inside of the Witches man down the back straight to lead and have Tom Brennan moving into third for a 4-2.
The sides then traded 4-2s in the next couple of races, with the Witches in front by two points up at 22-20. But Heat 8 was the turning point in the match, as the duo of Tom Brennan and Norick Blodorn took a 5-1 to hand the Aces the lead in the match at 25-23 and the visitors never looked back from then on. Heat 9 saw the red lights come on momentarily, but Brady Kurtz put those distractions out of his mind to take the race win and have Jye Etheridge in third for another 4-2 to lead by four points.
Jason Doyle made it three wins in three with a comfortable victory in Heat 10, while the Glasgow Tigers connection of Brennan and Cook claimed a lucky 5-1 to see Belle Vue up by eight points at 37-29 after after Troy Batchelor looked to have stemmed the flow of heat wins for the Aces, but he would suffer mechanical problems while clear out in front in Heat 11. Things got worse for Ipswich when Danny King fell on the turn three of lap one to see him excluded in the rerun, as Matej Zagar and Norick Blodorn collected an easy 5-1.
Craig Cook then fell in Heat 13 and was excluded from the rerun, with Doyle continuing to assert his dominance in the match with a tapes to flag race victory. In the fight for second, Troy Batchelor got by Brady Kurtz for a moment, only for the Australian to regain second place and have the Witches registering their first race advantage since Heat 6.
Belle Vue crashed through the magical 45-points barrier when Charles Wright finished his night with a race win and was joined by the impressive Norick Blodorn who passed Rohan Tungate to get a 5-1 and have the lead out to 14 points at 49-35. Belle Vue’s hopes of increasing their big lead were slim with an in-form Jason Doyle in it, as he went on to complete a five-ride maximum in the final race of the night.
Ipswich Witches = 38
- Jason Doyle – 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 15
- Aaron Summers – 2′, 1, R, 0 = 3+1
- Danny King – 2, 2, 2, FX = 6
- Rohan Tungate – FX, 0, R, 1 = 1
- Troy Batchelor – 1′, 2, R, 1, 0 = 4+1
- Paul Starke – 1, 0, 1, 0 = 2
- Anders Rowe – 3, 2, 1, 1 = 7
Belle Vue Aces = 52
- Craig Cook (G) – 0, 3, 2′, FX = 5+1
- Tom Brennan – 1, 1, 3, 3 = 8
- Matej Zagar – 3, 3, 1′, 3, 2 = 12+1
- Charles Wright – 1, 1, 2, 3 = 7
- Jye Etheridge – 2, 0, 1 = 3
- Norick Blodorn – 0, 0, 2′, 2′, 2′ = 6+3
- Brady Kurtz – 3, 2, 3, 2, 1′ = 11+1
A Track With A VUE 