A tough night at Leicester saw the ATPI Aces lose out 55-35 to the Watling JCB Lions, with the early loss of Dan Bewley hampering any chance of an away victory.
Going into the evening, the visitors held a slender 48-42 aggregate advantage after the two sides met at the National Speedway Stadium a month ago.
Heat 6 saw the triple British Champion Dan Bewley left with nowhere to go in an incident when the Lions skipper Max Fricke fell unexpectedly and inadvertently caused Bewley to crash heavily into the safety fence.
Both riders were able to walk away from the incident, but Bewley took no further part in the meeting with Injury Rider Replacement put in place to cover his rides.
The ATPI Aces remained determined however and dug deep to maintain the scores at a respectable gap but it wasn’t long before the Lions found their stride.
Three successive heat advantages in Heat 10 to Heat 12 sealed the visitors fate, and it was simply a matter of mitigating the damage in the closing stages of the night.
Results around the country have contributed to Belle Vue’s remaining in third in the league table, though the race for the top four has further intensified with tonight’s result.
Captain Brady Kurtz starred for the ATPI Aces, top scoring with 12 points, despite still struggling with a tendon injury, while Ben cook added a fantastic 10+1.
Club boss Mark Lemon said: “Track conditions early on were challenging. It’s always difficult at this time of year to get the moisture levels right.
“Max Fricke unfortunately made a mistake, which is rare for him, and that had a knock on effect for Dan and the team.
“He took a pretty heavy knock to the whole body and unfortunately was ruled out of the rest of meeting by the local paramedics.
“It’s hard to put the finger on why our away for has eluded us this year but losing Dan so early in the meeting was unwanted pressure that we could have done without.
“We have some quality riders in our team but at the same time it does demonstrate the competitive nature of the league.”
The ATPI Aces are on the road again this coming Monday, July 29 when they head to the Midlands and Birmingham’s Perry Barr Stadium for a face off against the Brummies.
The next action in Manchester arrives on Friday, August 2 when the Belle Vue Colts pick up their campaign against the Oxford Chargers.
The meeting curtain-raiser sees the British Youth Championship round, which kicks off at 6pm on August 2 with the main NDL action picking up from 7:30pm.
Meeting tickets, race day programmes and south stand parking are now available to pre-book online at bellevue-speedway.com/events.
RESULT – LEICESTER V BELLE VUE – THURSDAY, JULY 25 @ 7:30PM [P2]
Leicester ‘Watling JCB’ Lions 55: Sam Masters 13, Craig Cook 10+1, Richard Lawson 9, Luke Becker 7+3, Ryan Douglas 7+1, Max Fricke 6+2, Sam Hagon 3+1
Belle Vue ‘ATPI’ Aces 35: Brady Kurtz 12, Ben Cook 10+1, Jaimon Lidsey 4, Jake Mulford 3+1, Norick Blodorn 3, Dan Bewley 2, Antti Vuolas 1+1. Aggregate Score: Leicester 97-83 Belle Vue
Image: ©Belle Vue Speedway