Aces beat Sheffield as crowds welcomed back into stadiums

Tuesday, 18 May 2021 09:44

Belle Vue Aces became the first Manchester sports team to welcome fans back into the stands last night (Monday 17 May) when they hosted Sheffield Tigers in the first round of the SGB Premiership. Graham Goodwin reports...

Belle Vue roared back into action this week as Speedway became the first sport in Manchester to welcome back the crowds following Monday’s easing of Covid-19 restrictions.

And the Aces treated their socially-distanced fans to a thrilling last heat decider before running out 47-43 winners over ‘War of the Roses’ rivals Sheffield at the National Speedway Stadium on Monday evening.

Visiting star Jack Holder threatened to spoil the party with the individual performance of the night – a mammoth 19 points from 7 races – but it was the Aces overall strength in depth that saw them home in front of the live Eurosports television cameras after a slow start.

All pictures by Ian Charles

Richie Worrall showed the first night nerves as he was disqualified from heat 1 for touching the tapes, but reserve replacement Jye Etheridge came in to claim the first race of the season as the Aces took a 4-2 win.

Sheffield hit back with a 5-1 maximum in heat 2, and it was Etheridge again who levelled the scores by inflicting the first of only two defeats on Holder in heat 4.

The Aces were unable to make any headway, as Sheffield seemed consistently faster from the starts, and it was the visitors who opened up a four-point lead through Justin Sedgmen and Tameside-born Kyle Howarth in heat 7.

The Tigers still held the 4-point lead going into heat 10, but suddenly the Aces clicked into gear.

No.1 Brady Kurtz took his first win in Belle Vue colours by a country mile, followed home by Richie Worrall to level the scores.

Similarly Charles Wright recorded his debut Aces heat win in the next, as Tom Brennan put in the race of the night to snatch a third-placed point.

And when Dan Bewley and Etheridge notched a 5-1 maximum in heat 12, Belle Vue had suddenly turned a 4-point deficit into a 6-point lead.

Holder steadied the Sheffield ship by winning heat 13, and the busy Aussie was quickly introduced into the next race as a tactical substitute, where he took maximum points with Sedgmen to peg back the Aces lead to 2, and set up a last heat decider.

It looked like the visitors might cause an upset as they rocketed from the start of the final heat, but Bewley cut back to take the lead up the back straight, and Kurtz used the dirt on the outside to fly past Sedgmen, as the Aces completed their opening night with a win.

Scorers: Belle Vue - Dan Bewley 12+1, Jye Etheridge 9+1, Brady Kurtz 9, Richie Worrall 6+2, Charles Wright 5+1, Steve Worrall 3+1, Tom Brennan 3.

Sheffield – Jack Holder 19, Kyle Howarth 8+3, Justin Sedgmen 7+1, Josh Bates 5, James Wright 2+1, Troy Batchelor 2.

The Aces hit the road tonight (Thursday) as they travel to Ipswich to face a Witches side who were also victors on Monday night when they pulled off a 47-43 away win over East Anglian rivals King’s Lynn.

It’s back to the National Stadium tomorrow (Friday, 7.30pm) when the Belle Vue Colts open their National League season by playing host to NL newcomers Newcastle.

The Colts track 20-year-old new signing Jack Parkinson-Blackburn at No.1, whilst 15-year-old Sam McGurk makes his Belle Vue debut at reserve, alongside his 17-year-old brother Harry.

As with the Aces matches, tickets must be bought in advance from the Belle Vue website www.bellevue-speedway.com

The Colts hit the road for the away trip to Berwick on Saturday night, whilst the Aces travel to Wolverhampton in the Premiership on Monday.

Aces beat Sheffield as crowds welcomed back into stadiums

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Aces beat Sheffield as crowds welcomed back into stadiums

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