BELLE Vue delivered their biggest home win of the season to date over Ipswich on Monday night with a 58-26 thumping of the Tru7 Group Witches at the National Speedway Stadium.
The Premiership league leaders struggled to gain momentum on a rampant ATPI Aces side who laid down a marker to their rivals almost immediately as the tapes went up.
The home team welcomed back captain Brady Kurtz after a spell on the sidelines with ligament injuries, and he announced his return to home shale in style.
Kurtz and his boys were on point right from the first heat, delivering three maximum race advantages in succession to put them 12 points ahead immediately.
The Witches struggled to respond to the might of the ATPI Aces, as with each race they fell further and further behind. So dominant were the hosts that they wrapped up the win by Heat 11.
The team looked set to break the 60-point margin for the first time this season before the meeting was curtailed after a Heat 14 crash when the referee declared the result to allow time for the medical team to attend to Tate Zischke.
Jaimon Lidsey topped the scores for the home team with a perfect 12-point maximum, while Dan Bewley and Brady Kurtz each contributed 10 big points to the tally.
Kurtz said: “It was a super good performance from the whole team tonight and this is just what we needed to get going, it’s just a massive shame it ended how it did.
“I think we suspected that Ipswich would struggle, especially being without Jason Doyle, but I think even we were surprised just how many points we put on them so early on.
“But every team has to deal with their difficulties and we had to capitalise on those to work to our advantage, and for me it was great to be back in action.”
Belle Vue now prepares to stage the biggest team event in the world with the 2024 FIM Speedway of Nations kicking off in Manchester on Tuesday, July 9.
Meeting tickets, race day programmes, hospitality and south stand parking are now available to pre-book online at bellevue-speedway.com/events.
RESULT – BELLE VUE V IPSWICH – MONDAY, JULY 1 @ 7:30PM [P2]
Belle Vue ‘ATPI’ Aces 58: Jaimon Lidsey 12, Brady Kurtz 10, Dan Bewley 10, Norick Blodorn 8+2, Ben Cook 8+2, Connor Bailey 7+2, Tate Zischke 3+1
Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches 26: Emil Sayfutdinov 10, Adam Ellis 5, Keynan Rew 5, Danny King 2+1, Tom Brennan 2, Dan Thompson 1, Jordan Jenkins 1
Meeting declared after Heat 14 – Result stands
Image: ©Belle Vue Speedway