AN enthralling night of Speedway saw Belle Vue exit the Knockout Cup, after pushing reigning Premiership champions Sheffield into a Super Heat at Owlerton.
The ATPI Aces journeyed across the Pennines with a narrow 8-point lead which, for the majority of the night, they managed to preserve until the later stages of the meeting.
But the Tru7 Group Tigers were equally as ambitious as the home team and soon set to work in narrowing the aggregate advantage, which inevitably led to plenty of thrilling action.
With 12 heats gone, the ATPI Aces held their rivals in a tight deadlock at 36 points apiece before GP stars Jack Holder and Tai Woffinden came to the party for Sheffield.
Subsequent races saw the Tigers claim a succession of heat advantages to level the aggregate scores and force the ATPI Aces into a Super Heat.
Unfortunately for the visitors, it was the reigning league champions who capitalised on the opportunity and left the 2023 Pairs Championship duo of Dan Bewley and Brady Kurtz in the dust.
Bewley led the way for the ATPI Aces with 10+1 while Norick Blodorn followed up with 7 and Jaimon Lidsey added 6+2 to the top three’s tally.
Rising Star Connor Bailey said: “We are gutted to go out of the KOC in these circumstances, especially after we put in such a decent shift at home.
“For the majority of the night I think we did really well to maintain our advantage but towards the end the Sheffield boys really came alive and found something that worked.
“As far as our performances on the road go, I’d say this is one of our best and certainly from a fans’ point of view it was a really thrilling night.
“But at the same time, there were places we made mistakes and, like I said, we’re very disappointed to bow out of the KOC. But we did our best and that’s all we can do.”
Belle Vue return home on Monday, May 13 when we welcome the newly created Oxford Spires for our first encounter at the National Speedway Stadium, tapes up 7:30pm.
Meeting tickets, race day programmes and south stand parking are now available to pre-book, along with race day hospitality, at bellevue-speedway.com.
RESULT – BELLE VUE V SHEFFIELD – THURSDAY, MAY 9 @ 7:30PM [PKOC L2]
Sheffield 'Tru7 Group' Tigers 49: Tai Woffinden 13, Jack Holder 12+2, Chris Holder 9+1, Josh Pickering 7+1, Kyle Howarth 3, Jason Edwards 3, Dan Gilkes 2
Belle Vue 'ATPI' Aces 41: Dan Bewley 10+1, Norick Blodorn 7, Jaimon Lidsey 6+2, Ben Cook 6, Brady Kurtz 4+1, Connor Mountain 4+1, Connor Bailey 4
Aggregate scores tied (90-90) – Sheffield Beat Belle Vue 7-2 in Super Heat
Image: ©Belle Vue Speedway