BELLE Vue will finally get their 2024 ROWE Motor Oil Premiership campaign underway on Thursday, March 21 when the ‘ATPI’ Aces make the journey to Ipswich’s Foxhall Stadium.
The team’s trip to Leicester last week fell afoul of the Great British weather, but the club launched the Speedway season at the National Speedway to critical acclaim with the Peter Craven Memorial.
ATPI Aces top guns Brady Kurtz and Dan Bewley kicked off their 2024 looking powerful, with the skipper taking the gold and the double British champion taking silver in that meeting.
Thursday will see them team up with their fellow Belle Vue compatriots for the first time in a repeat of last year’s epic league semi-final, when the Witches and the Aces last locked horns.
But the slate is now wiped clean, and club No.5 Dan Bewley has declared his side have unfinished business down in Suffolk, and he in particular is keen to set the record straight.
He said: “I’m due a good meeting at Foxhall. It’s a track that I actually enjoy racing and I don’t feel that last year I demonstrated that particularly well.
“Over the winter I’ve had chance to decompress and get ready for the new season and since I’ve had the metalwork taken out of my leg, I feel brand new.
“The rest of the boys feel the same. We’ve had some great successes at Ipswich in previous years but that won’t mean anything going into Thursday.
“It’s our first league match, we’ve all had chance to race a few laps at home and we’re ready to get going with the league campaign.
“Ipswich won’t be easy. They’ve got some hard-hitters in their team but I think we are more than a match for them. We’ve just got to do our best and, hopefully, that’s enough to get us some points.”
The Speedway season in Manchester continues on Good Friday, March 29 when the Cool Running Colts face Leicester in their first NDL league action of the season.
The ATPI Aces, meanwhile, hope to get their league campaign underway when they visit Ipswich on Thursday, March 21 before heading home to Manchester on Easter Monday, April 1.
Meeting tickets, race day programmes and south stand parking are now available for both home meetings, along with race day hospitality on Easter Monday, at bellevue-speedway.com.
IPSWICH V BELLE VUE – THURSDAY, MARCH 21 @ 7:30PM
Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches: Emil Sayfutdinov 10.10, Adam Ellis 5.57, Danny King 7.05 (C), Keynan Rew 4.00, Jason Doyle 9.12, Jordan Jenkins 3.16, Dan Thompson (RS); TM: Ritchie Hawkins
Belle Vue ‘ATPI’ Aces: Brady Kurtz 8.51, (C), Norick Blödorn 5.83, Jaimon Lidsey 7.86, Ben Cook 6.00, Dan Bewley 8.00, Connor Mountain 3.52, Connor Bailey (RS); TM: Mark Lemon
Image: ©Belle Vue Speedway