BELLE VUE continue their bid to finish top of the Premiership table ahead of the play-offs when they travel to Northampton on Thursday (7.30pm).
The ATPI Aces have already been successful once this season at the International Shaleway when they won 47-42 in a last-heat decider.
Their lead at the top of the table is currently ten points, and another away win on a night where second and third placed Leicester and Sheffield are racing each other would be another big step towards their goal.
But the Aces are forced into a couple of changes due to Polish league commitments, with matches in that country taking priority for Jason Doyle and Zach Cook.
Rider replacement will be in operation for Doyle, whilst Cook is covered by the evergreen Chris Harris who had a superb meeting at Northampton for his regular club King’s Lynn a couple of weeks ago.
The Aces expect to have the remainder of their regular riders available with Peter Kildemand due back from rib damage in Denmark on Wednesday, whilst reserve Tate Zischke is also making his comeback from concussion with a meeting for Workington at Oxford.
Northampton made a double change earlier this month and the signing of Adam Ellis proved a spectacular success when he scored 20 points on his debut at Ipswich last week.
Ellis and Mitch McDiarmid will both make their first home appearances for the Foxes, with McDiarmid having already shown his talent when he guested for the Aces against Leicester last week.
The Foxes are without captain Nicolai Klindt who is also required in Poland, and they bring in Justin Sedgmen to guest.
Aces manager Mark Lemon said: “We’ve been here before as a club – in 2023 we had the best home and away season, we topped the table, and unfortunately we had injury on the eve of the play-offs to Charles Wright, and we were out in the semi-finals.
“Hopefully that doesn’t happen again, but you do have that in the back of your mind because in sport things can change in a heartbeat.
“We’ve just got to keep our feet on the ground and focus, and keep the process in place, but the away performances from these guys have been really good this year too.
“We go to Northampton on Thursday, so a result down there would hopefully see us further clear at the top, and hopefully we can also win our last home match against Sheffield.
“It’s been a really good season, and hopefully we will have even more to cheer about come play-off time.”
Aces supporters not making the trip to the International Shaleway can still follow the action live on BSN with passes available from https://www.britishspeedwaynetwork.co.uk/ , whilst official live updates can be found at https://live.britishspeedway.co.uk/ .
NORTHAMPTON: Niels-Kristian Iversen, Kye Thomson, Justin Sedgmen, Adam Ellis, Jaimon Lidsey, Mitch McDiarmid, Luke Harrison.
BELLE VUE: Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Peter Kildemand, Chris Harris, Jason Doyle R/R, Tate Zischke, Will Cairns.