BELLE VUE 55 – 35 IPSWICH WITCHES
(Aces win 107-73 on Agg & advance to Grand Final)
Belle Vue made it back to back Premiership Grand Final appearances on Monday night, as the Aces completed the job they started last week at Foxhall Stadium, as they beat the Ipswich Witches 55-35 on the night – and 107-73 on aggregate. While victory sees the Manchester club heading to their fifth Grand Final – the main story was all about the new signing in Robert Lambert, as the new signing stormed to a 15-point maximum.
Following their 14-point lead from the first leg – it saw the traditional 5-1 against looking likely after both Witches riders in Jason Doyle and Aaron Summers made the initial gate, but Brady Kurtz blasted by both to pull clear for a shared heat. Belle Vue increased their overall lead thanks to Norick Blodorn and Jye Etheridge, as the German rider took a comfortable heat win, while his teammate fought Anders Rowe for third in what was an entertaining heat that saw the hosts recording a 4-2.
The hosts quickly built up an early lead with Matej Zagar and Charles Wright taking a 4-2 in Heat 3. That was after Wright flew by Danny King on lap 2 to put Aces 11-7 up, then Robert Lambert joined Jye Etheridge to register not only a 5-1, but the World number 5 his first race win in Belle Vue colours. Ipswich then banged in a couple of 4-2 heat advantages to get within four points at 20-16 down, as firstly Doyle made a lovely cutback on Zagar to pick up a race win; then Troy Batchelor made it back to back Witches race winners in Heat 6 with Paul Starke taking third.
Lambert blasted away from tapes with teammate Norick Blodorn tucked behind into second, but he lifted entering the second lap, and that slight error allowed both Danny King and Rohan Tungate to pass him by the time they entered the following lap. Tom Brennan and Jye Etheridge gated on a 5-1 for the home side in Heat 8, but Aaron Summers came round Etheridge to split the duo for a 4-2 against and have the Aces 27-21 up.
Charles Wright took the win in Heat 9, but Matej Zagar pulled off the same move that Doyle had done to him on Troy Batchelor, as the Belle Vue pairing took maximum points to lead 32-22. Brady Kurtz then pulled off a storming move to take Heat 10, as Tom Brennan was leading from Danny King – then the Australian went from third to first with a ruthless move that saw him cutting the noses off both King and even his own teammate as part of a 4-2.
The battle of the GP riders in Heat 11 saw Robert Lambert up against Jason Doyle, with Lambert making a jet propelled start from the tapes and having the Ipswich man left for dead on to run the first corner. Meanwhile, Summers and Blodorn had their own little battle for third, with the Ipswich man holding third till the final lap when the German got by for another 4-2 and confirmed Belle Vue’s place into the Grand Final next week.
Heat 13 saw Lambert not leading after the opening lap, but by the time the race entered the second turn of lap 2, it saw the Aces man having passed Doyle and was being stalked by the Witches number one for the duration of the race. Wright and Blodorn made the gate in Heat 14, but Rohan Tungate split the pairing to see a 4-2 as the hosts hit fifty points.
The final race of the night saw Jason Doyle and Matej Zagar fighting it out front, that was until Robert Lambert spotted a huge gap between the two and blasted into the hole and took the win. For Doyle and Zagar, they had a battle for second, where the Aussie passed Zagar and soon saw the Slovenian returning the favour to bring home a 5-1 for the home side and head into the Grand Final as victors.
While they can now relax till next Monday, all that is left now is to wait and see who they will meet next week in the Grand Final – be it Wolverhampton, though they will need to overturn a four-point deficit from the first leg when they meet Sheffield down at Owlerton this coming Thursday night.
Belle Vue Aces = 55 (107)
- Brady Kurtz – 3, 2, 3, 0 = 8
- Tom Brennan – 0, 0, 3, 1 = 4
- Matej Zagar – 3, 2, 2′, 3, 2′ = 12+2
- Charles Wright – 1, 0, 3, 3 = 7
- Robert Lambert – 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 15 (Full Maximum)
- Norick Blodorn – 3, 0, 1, 1 = 5
- Jye Etheridge – 1, 2′, 1, R = 4+1
Ipswich Witches = 35 (73)
- Jason Doyle – 1′, 3, 2, 2, 1 = 9+1
- Aaron Summers – 2, 1, 2, 0 = 5
- Danny King – 0, 2, 2, 1′, 0 = 5+1
- Rohan Tungate – 2, 1′, 0, 2 = 5+1
- Troy Batchelor – R, 3, 1, 1′ = 5+1
- Paul Starke – 2, 1, 0, 2 = 5
- Anders Rowe – 0, 1, 0, 0 = 1
A Track With A VUE 