BELLE Vue stretched their lead at the top of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership to seven points by slamming second-placed Leicester 61-29 at the National Speedway Stadium.
The ATPI Aces maintained their outstanding form around their home circuit in 2026 by repeating the scoreline from the Lions’ previous visit back in June.
Skipper Brady Kurtz scored a 12-point full maximum from four rides and Jason Doyle dropped just one point from five outings – but this was another powerful all-round display with the visitors limited to three race wins.
And there was a highly impressive guest appearance from Aussie youngster Mitch McDiarmid, who scored paid-11 at reserve as he stood in for concussion victim Tate Zischke.
Despite the margin of victory, there was still some superb racing to enjoy in Manchester including the incredible sight of a four-abreast entry into turn three in Heat 14 before the Aces emerged on a 5-1.
Kurtz and Norick Blodorn gave the home side the perfect start with a 5-1 over the in-form Ryan Douglas in Heat 1, and Will Cairns nearly set up a repeat performance in the reserves’ race before he was edged out by Jonas Jeppesen for second place as McDiarmid took a fine win.
The Lions briefly held a 5-1 in Heat 3 after Dan Thompson moved into second place behind Nick Morris, but Peter Kildemand prevented maximum damage by splitting the visitors at the end of lap two.
Cairns and Doyle then took an excellent 5-1 in Heat 4 with the Aces’ Rising Star making a terrific start from the inside at the expense of Sam Masters, with the home side going eight points up.
Cook stormed around the field to win a shared Heat 5 as Kildemand was squeezed out by Douglas, but the Blodorn/Kurtz combination was at it again with a 5-1 in Heat 6, the race being allowed to continue despite movement at the start from Masters who penalised himself.
There was drama in Heat 7 when Doyle cut back on the second lap to pass early leader Morris, and then as the Leicester rider looked to respond McDiarmid picked his moment to also make his way through on the inside.
A run of home 4-2s followed, firstly when Blodorn and Cairns stormed past the faster-gating Lions on turn two only for Joe Thompson to come back at Cairns and take second place back in Heat 8.
Kildemand then burst between Jeppesen and Masters on the opening lap of Heat 9 and seemed set to link up with Cook, before Jeppesen hit back and registered another second for the visitors.
The next 4-2 in Heat 10 saw Kurtz join Blodorn up front just as Dan Thompson charged through on the inside, and the Aces skipper had to protect the race victory rather than a potential maximum advantage.
Douglas offered good resistance for the Lions, winning a fierce duel with Doyle in Heat 11 and then also winning a tactical substitute outing in Heat 12 as he forced his way inside Kildemand in the early stages.
But the Aces came up with a big finish, first with Kurtz and Doyle making it past Douglas on successive laps for a 5-1 in Heat 13, before the incredible opening lap of Heat 14 appeared to see Thompson ahead until Cook and McDiarmid suddenly both made it through on turn three, with Jeppesen also in the mix.
The Aces were heading for the 60-point mark at home yet again, and they reached it in clinical fashion as even with Kurtz rested from Heat 15, Doyle clamped Douglas on the opening bend and Cook switched through to take second place to end the meeting with a hat-trick of 5-1s.
Aces manager Mark Lemon said: “Our form around the National Speedway Stadium has been quite phenomenal from top to tail.
“We lost Dan (Bewley), but bringing in Doyley has been pretty much like for like, which is a pretty big statement to say with how good Dan is, but the whole camp is full of confidence.
“It August, it’s not play-off time yet so we’ve just got to make sure we maintain this going into the play-offs. We have one foot in there now with this win tonight, and Leicester are certainly a rival for that.
“Mitch did a sterling job as a guest, and having just signed for Northampton Foxes I’m sure he’ll do a great job down there.
“To come in for his very first time here and perform like that was exceptional. Obviously we’re generating a lot of confidence and we were able to give him the necessary tools and information for him to do his job, and he was eager to get a chance in the Premiership.”
Next up for the Aces is a home clash with play-off chasing King’s Lynn, complete with former Belle Vue captain and Manchester GP winner Max Fricke, on Monday August 10.
BELLE VUE 61: Jason Doyle 12+2, Brady Kurtz 12, Zach Cook 11+1, Mitch McDiarmid 8+3, Norick Blodorn 8+2, Peter Kildemand 5, Will Cairns 5.
LEICESTER 29: Ryan Douglas 10+1, Jonas Jeppesen 6, Nick Morris 4, Dan Thompson 4, Joe Thompson 2, Drew Kemp 2, Sam Masters 1.
BELLE Vue Speedway would like to sincerely apologise to supporters for the non-arrival of the official programmes in time for Monday’s meeting against Leicester.
To the club’s immense frustration, the programmes were actually on site from the couriers as early as 10.45am but the DPD driver saw one locked gate, took a picture of it, and then drove away despite the stadium clearly being open at the main entrance.
Repeated efforts were made during the afternoon to establish the location of the programmes, and the club were assured on more than one occasion that they would be with us imminently – which of course did not happen.
Shortly before gates opened we took the decision to print racecards from the document supplied by our programme publishers, and this at least enabled supporters to follow the action in the usual way.
We know many supporters collect all Aces programmes, and once received these will still be available – and naturally we will be changing our courier company following this unacceptable incident.