BELLE Vue look to seal their place in another Grand Final when they host Ipswich at the National Speedway Stadium on Monday (7.30pm).
The ATPI Aces are well placed heading into the second leg of their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-off semi-final, so much so that they do not actually need to win on the night after last week’s superb display to win 52-38 at Foxhall.
That gives them a significant safety margin, but defensive thoughts are not in the Aces’ minds as they bid to maintain a 100 per cent home record – and to hopefully move into the Grand Final on a high.
Momentum at this stage of the season is all-important, and the stakes have been raised by the likely prospect of a Roses title decider after Sheffield thrashed Leicester 57-33 in their own first leg at Owlerton last week.
There’s no doubt the Tigers are a form team at this stage and the Aces therefore need to maintain their own levels regardless of the status of their clash with the Witches.
Both teams are at full strength with World No.3 Brady Kurtz leading the Aces as normal, whilst the in-form Peter Kildemand makes what will hopefully be his penultimate home appearance before retiring.
Kildemand is already well placed for silverware in the Championship as his Berwick team ran up a 58-32 win over Plymouth in the first leg of their KO Cup Final in Saturday, with the Dane in double figures.
Ipswich will arrive at the NSS with nothing to lose, and despite clearly facing a major task they do track one of the league’s best riders in recent weeks as Polish ace Tobiasz Musielak has been racking up the points home and away, whilst former Aces rider Tom Brennan will also doubtless be keen to impress.
Aces manager Mark Lemon said: “The bottom line is that if we can’t score 39 points at home then we won’t deserve to be in the Grand Final, but there will be no talk whatsoever of just scoring 39 points.
“We want to win the second leg and win it well because achieving good results simply breeds more confidence and we want to be peaking in time for the Final.
“Our home form has been outstanding for most of the season but this is no time to be complacent. Play-off speedway can throw plenty of curve balls so we just have to maintain our focus, keep following the process and I have every confidence in this group of boys that we can get what we’re looking for.”
Tickets and hospitality for the meeting are available at https://www.bellevue-speedway.com/tickets , and should the Aces reach the Grand Final, dates and ticket arrangements will be announced as soon as possible.
BELLE VUE: Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Peter Kildemand, Zach Cook, Jason Doyle, Tate Zischke, Will Cairns.
IPSWICH: Richard Lawson, Scott Nicholls, Danny King, Tom Brennan, Tobiasz Musielak, Kevin Juhl Pedersen, Jason Edwards.