ANOTHER Speedway masterclass for reigning Premiership Champions Belle Vue saw them deal a devastating blow to Ipswich in front of a bumper crowd, beating the Witches 55-35 on the night.
After last week’s reality check against Wolverhampton, the ATPI Aces were conservative in their approach to the meeting as they targeted a maximum 3 league point haul.
The Witches were packing some serious firepower in the form of Jason Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov, but even they couldn’t prevent the determination of the home team.
Two shared races to kick things off soon evolved into a rapid succession of heat advantages in Belle Vue’s favour, with the Suffolk side struggling to respond to the might of their offense.
An epic Heat 5 saw Jaimon Lidsey and Charles Wright in the thick of the action against Jason Doyle, who made a fantastic gate but soon found himself the meat in an ATPI Aces sandwich.
Fireworks post-race did nothing to rattle the home heroes, and they continued to deliver one heat advantage after another until both the meeting and the aggregate point were sealed.
Super skipper Brady Kurtz again delivered double figures at home with 13+1, while Lidsey followed up with a solid 12 points and Dan Bewley added 10 for good measure.
Lidsey said: “It was great for us to get another fantastic win, especially after last week against Wolverhampton. It was a bit of a reality check for us that one to be honest.
“Ipswich are a team of racers and we expected them to come here and put us under pressure, and they’re not a side that you can afford to take for granted.
“Doyley [Jason Doyle] and Emil [Sayfutdinov] take no prisoners and, more than once, they showed exactly why they have the reputations they do in the sport.
“But I think that’s also a bit of a weakness for them. Compared to us, they didn’t seem to have the kind of support throughout the team that we do, and I think that perhaps cost them.
“We have that strength in depth that we can call on if someone is struggling, and we showed what we’re capable off with this win and we’ve gone top of the table for good measure.”
The ATPI Aces resume their home campaign on Monday, June 12 at the National Speedway Stadium, 7:30pm against the King’s Lynn Stars.
Meeting tickets, race day programmes, south stand parking and hospitality are now available to pre-book at bellevue-speedway.com/events.
RESULT – BELLE VUE V IPSWICH – MONDAY, JUNE 5 @ 7:30PM [P1]
Belle Vue ‘ATPI’ Aces 55: Brady Kurtz 13+1, Jaimon Lidsey 12, Dan Bewley 10, Charles Wright 7+1, Norick Blodorn 7+1, Tom Brennan 5, Jake Mulford 1+1
Ipswich ‘TruMix’ Witches 35: Emil Sayfutdinov 10, Jason Doyle 9+1, Keynan Rew 5, Joe Thompson 3+3, Ben Barker 3+1, Danny King 3, Danyon Hume 2
Belle Vue win 104-76 on aggregate
Image: Ian Charles