BELLE Vue were beaten 56-34 at Sheffield on Thursday as the home side took match and aggregate points in the latest Knockout Cup group fixture.
The APTI Aces travelled to South Yorkshire without skipper Brady Kurtz (illness) and Norick Blodorn (injury), and they found things tough against a fast-starting Tigers outfit.
As ever, Dan Bewley put on a great show at Owlerton as he won four races with some of the best action of the meeting, with Zach Cook the other visiting rider to take the flag, and there was also an encouraging display from William Cairns in the Rising Star berth after his mechanical trouble of Monday.
The hosts opened with a 5-1 with guest Chris Harris squeezed out from gate three, whilst Anders Rowe moved inside Belle Vue’s other stand-in Kye Thomson for second place.
Cairns and Tate Zischke kept Luke Killeen at bay for a 3-3 in Heat 2, and Peter Kildemand showed plenty of pace to split Chris Holder and Leon Flint at the end of the first lap of Heat 3, with the next three races all shared.
Tigers skipper Josh Pickering took Heat 4 with Bewley losing ground in the early stages, before Holder held off the challenge of Harris in the next, whilst Heat 6 saw Bewley put a win on the board for the Aces as he rode a perfect race to get the better of Jack Holder.
The gap was six points at this stage but the home side then began to stretch away thanks to a run of advantages, starting with a 5-1 in Heat 7 as Jye Etheridge just held off Cook for second place in a photo finish.
Another Sheffield 5-1 followed in Heat 8, this time from Rowe and Killeen over Thomson and Cairns, before Bewley prevented a hat-trick in Heat 9 as he rounded Flint on the exit of bend four.
But the Tigers weren’t to be denied with more quick gating from Jack Holder and Rowe seeing them take maximum points from Heat 10, before Pickering and Etheridge team-rode to another 5-1 in the next despite a scare on the final bend.
Bewley came up with the ride of the night for the Aces in Heat 12, chasing and passing Chris Holder with an excellent inside move at the end of lap three, and the Belle Vue star then spectacularly burst between Pickering and Jack Holder off the second bend of Heat 13 to hit the front once again.
Cook made the inside count to take control of Heat 14 whilst Cairns chased Flint hard for third place, before Bewley put in another quality first lap effort to win the final race of the night.
Aces manager Mark Lemon said: “Sheffield’s gating and first turn skills were very impressive, and excluding Dan Bewley we were outperformed. We just weren’t sharp enough.
“There were some boys in the team tonight who haven’t been here before, which is tough, and they all tried their hardest.
“If you just get it wrong by an increment you’re eating dust, and unfortunately some of our boys got it wrong, and that’s racing at the end of the day.
“We live to fight another day, and we’ve obviously now got to focus our attention on Bank Holiday Monday against Leicester, and we need two wins.”
The ATPI Aces return to Manchester on Easter Monday for a midday start against Leicester in their penultimate Knockout Cup fixture. Tickets and hospitality packages are available from https://www.bellevue-speedway.com/tickets , with Bank Holiday breakfast options available for just £13.95
SHEFFIELD 56: Chris Holder 13, Josh Pickering 12+1, Jye Etheridge 9+2, Jack Holder 9+1, Anders Rowe 8+3, Leon Flint 3+1, Luke Killeen 2+1.
BELLE VUE 34: Dan Bewley 16, Zach Cook 5, Kye Thomson 3+1, William Cairns 3+1, Chris Harris 3, Peter Kildemand 3, Tate Zischke 1+1.