The Belle Vue ‘ATPI’ Aces became the first Premiership team to complete their league fixtures at King's Lynn, but it wasn’t to be the away win they'd targeted at the Adrian Flux Arena Norfolk.
The PSE Environmental Stars defeated the ATPI Aces 51-39 but they still managed to secure the aggregate bonus and finish their home and away season with 37 points.
The team were down to six men after it was confirmed Brady Kurtz had been signed off with cracked ribs, suffered in a crash in Poland last weekend.
And despite the R/R facility working well at the Adrian Flux Arena, the team struggled for firepower against the Stars who were determined to go out with a bang.
Top gun Dan Bewley bagged another double figure score with 14 points while Jaimon Lidsey came on string to finish with 11+1 and Ben Cook on 9+1.
It leaves the ATPI Aces in something of limbo as far as their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership semi-final opponents are concerned, with their rivals yet to complete their full complement of fixtures.
Both Leicester and Sheffield still have the room to finish top of the table while Ipswich can still overtake Belle Vue to finish third, with club’s fate now in the hands of their results.
Team boss Mark Lemon said: “We came here obviously to get the aggregate point, but we were hoping to get a win to hopefully stay second.
“We’ll just have to watch other events unfold now. The main thing is we are secure in the top four but what that means for our semi-final opponent is yet to be determined.
“The main thing was to get through unscathed. We missed Brady (Kurtz) even though the rider replacement rides went quite well, but we didn’t have enough firepower in the end.”
The Belle Vue ‘ATPI’ Aces have now completed their 2024 calendar fixtures and now await confirmation of their play off dates and opponent, which hopefully will be communicated soon.
RESULT – KING’S LYNN V BELLE VUE – WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28 @ 7:30PM [P2]
King’s Lynn ‘ PSE Environmental’ Stars 51: Richard Lawson 16, Niels-Kristian Iversen 11+2, Anders Rowe 7+2, Chris Harris 7+1, Lewis Kerr 6+1, Drew Kemp 4+2, Benjamin Basso r/r.
Belle Vue ‘ATPI’ Aces 39: Dan Bewley 14, Jaimon Lidsey 11+1, Ben Cook 9+1, Norick Blodorn 3+1, Antti Vuolas 2, Jake Mulford 0, Brady Kurtz r/r.
Aggregate Score: King’s Lynn 88-92 Belle Vue
Image: ©Belle Vue Speedway