BELLE Vue have set up a massive Friday night at the National Speedway Stadium by winning the first leg of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Grand Final 47-43 at Sheffield.
The ATPI Aces now have the chance to clinch the league title in front of a packed house in Manchester simply by maintaining their unbeaten home record this season – and even a narrow defeat would still get them over the line, not that it will be in their thinking at this stage.
Despite the blow of losing Peter Kildemand to a broken wrist after his weekend crash at Plymouth, the Aces showed spirit and resolve at Owlerton to fight back from an early six-point deficit.
And after containing the Tigers in mid-meeting, big guns Brady Kurtz and Jason Doyle stepped up to stun Sheffield with two huge 5-1s in Heats 13 and 15 and give the visitors the advantage at the halfway stage of the tie.
The Aces’ top two both dropped just one point from their five rides, and there were also crucial displays from Zach Cook and Tate Zischke, the latter being a constant threat to the home side as he collected numerous points in his direct contests, many of them from the back.
Sheffield had been hoping for a lead in double figures, and the early stages of the first leg gave them hope of that result being possible.
The opening three races all resulted in Tigers 4-2s and the Aces had to work had to prevent themselves from dropping further behind, as Kurtz passed Anders Rowe on the first lap of Heat 1 for second place, whilst Cook split Leon Flint and Chris Holder in Heat 3 to again prevent a Sheffield 5-1.
Doyle put the Aces on the winners’ board in Heat 4 with a decisive ride ahead of a tussle for the minor places where home captain Josh Pickering was relegated to the back in a ding-dong scrap with Zischke, who himself was looking to get on terms with Jye Etheridge.
Kurtz and Norick Blodorn then flew away from gates one and three in Heat 5 to strike the first 5-1 of the night at the expense of Holder and Leon Flint and bring the Aces level at 15-15.
Sheffield set about edging ahead once again as Doyle lost out to Max Fricke in Heat 6 as the Tigers took a 4-2, and both Cook and Zischke had to work their way past Luke Killeen to share Heat 7 after the home Rising Star made it into second place behind Pickering in the early part of the race.
Blodorn then rode a smart race to protect team-mate Will Cairns in Heat 8 with Rowe away and gone, preventing any attack from Killeen, and a run of shared races continued in Heat 9 as Doyle took his second win with Zischke just unable to get on terms with Flint.
The home side were making little headway but they did double their lead to four points with a 4-2 in Heat 10 as Cook smartly turned back at the end of lap one to get the better of Rowe for second place, Fricke reeling of his third win up-front.
Kurtz produced a quality move off turn two in Heat 11 to navigate his way between Pickering and Etheridge, but Sheffield did pick up another 4-2 in Heat 11 to open the gap up to six points once more.
But the closing stages of the meeting were all Belle Vue, firstly with Kurtz launching away from the inside in Heat 13 whilst Doyle blasted around Fricke to join his colleague for maximum points as Pickering retired at the back.
Then in an entertaining Heat 14 Cook again made a great move at the end of lap one to go inside his rivals as the home duo went wide, whilst Zischke snatched third place from Flint next time around to bring the scores back level on the night.
Sheffield had choice of gates for Heat 15 but the Aces had all the momentum in their favour, and a super first turn saw Kurtz squeeze around Fricke just as Doyle was cutting back on the inside, and the visitors’ top two were away again for a 5-1 to put them ahead for the first time in the tie at the halfway stage.
Manager Mark Lemon said: “We’ve never come into a play-off series without an injury hanging over our head, and this year turned out to be no different.
“It was a hard one to swallow on Saturday night to lose PK, in his final year, but the boys just rallied and
rode like they have done all season.
“We looked at the track beforehand, and we felt conditions were optimal for gate four early on, and credit to the track curators here because they did a great job putting on a race-strip, especially as normally you get a graveyard gate here, and there wasn’t one tonight. Then having gates one and three in Heat 13 was also a consideration.
“Tate has just been improving week on week, and I’ve said a few times that it’s credit to the young man for bouncing back from such a serious injury in 2024 and perform like he has been doing.
“I said to him after one race tonight that it was a really smart ride, and I wouldn’t have said that twelve months ago – he’s improved out of sight.
“All of the boys as a unit feed off each other and the confidence is there to see – but the job is not done yet.
“We have a four-point lead, but I’ve been in this game too long to take it for granted. Sheffield will come out fighting on Friday, but we know what we’ve got to do.”
All roads now lead to Manchester for the second leg on Friday, and with a capacity crowd expected supporters are urged to pre-book tickets to avoid disappointment. Tickets are available from https://www.bellevue-speedway.com/tickets .
SHEFFIELD 43: Max Fricke 11, Jye Etheridge 9+1, Chris Holder 6, Anders Rowe 6, Leon Flint 5+1, Josh Pickering 5, Luke Killeen 1.
BELLE VUE 47: Brady Kurtz 14, Jason Doyle 12+2, Zach Cook 9, Tate Zischke 7+1, Norick Blodorn 3+2, Will Cairns 2, Mitch McDiarmid 0.