ANOTHER brilliant afternoon of racing at the National Speedway Stadium ended with a fifth consecutive win for the Belle Vue ATPI Aces, who triumphed 52-38 over Leicester.
And, after their thrilling 45-45 encounter at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena, the reigning Premiership Champions can also add the bonus aggregate point to their Bank Holiday haul.
The recent resurgence in form for the ATPI Aces has seen them take a commanding seat at the top of the league table and they show no signs of backing off the throttle.
The ATPI Aces expected a close match with the Watling JCB Lions, who were determined to bounce back from their defeat at the hands of the Manchester side.
And they put up a commendable fight, with former Belle Vue No.1 Max Fricke utilising all his knowledge of the National Speedway Stadium to help his new team mates.
But they met their match as the home team started taking control and extending their lead one heat advantage after another, with the Lions only managing to secure one heat advantage all afternoon.
Club captain Brady Kurtz was a happy man to see his side continue to go from strength to strength against string opposition.
He said: “It was another great win for us today. All the boys have been gelling well recently and the results have certainly been showing that so long may it continue.
“We knew Leicester weren’t going to make things easy for us. They came here with a sense of confidence that they could keep things close, and we had to work hard, no doubt.
“We all know how good Max [Fricke] is around here. Me and him go way back, we’ve raced a lot of laps together and we had a really good battle in Heat 15, and it was just nice for us to get another win.
“We’ve got a bit of a break before we go again next Monday against Wolverhampton in the Knockout Cup. That’ll be another tough meeting, but I think we can definitely run them close.
“We’re down 26 points on aggregate so we’ve got our work cut out. It’s not impossible, just very difficult but we’ll give it our all and that’s all we can do.”
The ATPI return to action at home next Monday, May 8 for the deciding leg of their Knockout Cup qualifier against the Wolverhampton Wolves in another big bank holiday bash, tapes up at 12pm.
Meeting tickets, race day programmes, south stand parking and hospitality are now available to pre-book online at bellevue-speedway.com.
RESULT – BELLE VUE V LEICESTER – MONDAY, MAY 1 @ 12PM [P1]
Belle Vue 'ATPI' Aces 52: Brady Kurtz 14, Tom Brennan 9+1, Dan Bewley 8+1, Norick Blodorn 7+1, Jaimon Lidsey 7+1, Charles Wright 6+1, Jake Mulford 1+1.
Leicester 'Watling JCB' Lions 38: Max Fricke 11, Chris Harris 7+2, Justin Sedgmen 5, Richard Lawson 5, Jake Allen 5, Dan Thompson 3+1, Nick Morris 2+1.
Belle Vue win 97-83 on aggregate
Image: Ian Charles