BELLE Vue are gearing up to welcome the 2021 Speedway World champion Artem Laguta to the National Speedway Stadium on Monday, June 12 along with his King’s Lynn Stars team mates.
The ATPI Aces visited the Adrian Flux Arena last Thursday, where they put in a heck of a shift, after the late withdrawal of skipper Brady Kurtz, to seal a 49-41 victory in Norfolk.
Now, with a full 1-7 declared for the home leg, they are on the hunt for the three league points on offer that would further cement their place in this year’s top four.
Laguta, who made his British Speedway debut mere weeks ago, has already displayed the level of skill expected of a world champion and has adapted well to his new home track.
But this will be his first away meeting of the campaign, and his first ever visit to the National Speedway Stadium with fans eager to see what he makes of the Manchester circuit.
King’s Lynn’s overall record this season has made for poor reading, with only two wins out of ten meetings raced and they know they need to turn things around sharpish.
The ATPI Aces, meanwhile, are enjoying one of their best ever seasons in terms of form and have made a regular habit of dominating clubs whether home or away.
But skipper Brady Kurtz is still cautioning his side against complacency and believes that a team as wounded as King’s Lynn can prove a dangerous opponent.
He said: “We need to try and repeat what we did against Ipswich with King’s Lynn. We want to keep improving throughout the season and that means building bigger scores all around.
“I was pleased for the guys at King’s Lynn. It wasn’t ideal for me to miss it, with the ankle injury, but they just got on with things and came away with a brilliant win.
“I think our strength in depth is where we have the advantage in situations like that. We’ve been missing guys before and still managed to win pretty big.
“It gives us the confidence to keep pushing on and while King’s Lynn will be looking to bounce back on Monday, we’ll rise to the challenge. There’s three points to be won and we’re going after them all.”
The ATPI Aces complete their first series of P1 fixtures against the King’s Lynn Stars on Monday, June 12 with tapes up at 8:00pm.
The club has pushed back the start time due to the Manchester City Bus Parade that will be taking place tomorrow afternoon, for the benefit of local traffic and supporters who wish to attend both.
Meeting tickets, race day programmes, hospitality and south stand parking are now available to reserve online at bellevue-speedway.com.
BELLE VUE V KING’S LYNN – MONDAY, JUNE 12 @ 8:00PM [P1]
Belle Vue ‘ATPI’ Aces: Dan Bewley 8.62, Tom Brennan 5.78, Jaimon Lidsey 7.23, Charles Wright 7.06, Brady Kurtz (C) 8.41, Norick Blodorn 5.56, Jake Mulford RS; TM: Mark Lemon
King’s Lynn ‘MacInnes’ Stars: Artem Laguta 8.00, Thomas Jorgensen 6.24, Frederik Jakobsen (C) 6.39, Nicolai Klindt 6.64, Michael Palm Toft 6.85, Kye Thomson 4.45, Jason Edwards RS; TM: Alex Brady
Aggregate Score: Belle Vue 49-41 King’s Lynn
Image: Ian Charles