Belle Vue’s hopes of reaching the Premiership Knock-Out Cup semi-finals were left in peril after a miserable rain-ravaged Easter Monday (10 April).

The Aces were due to meet Midlands rivals Wolverhampton twice on the Bank Holiday to decide their cup quarter-final clash, but that was reduced to once when thunder and heavy rain moved in to force the postponement of the lunchtime home leg at Manchester’s National Speedway Stadium.

That switched the first leg to the evening tie down the M6 at Wolverhampton’s Monmore Green circuit, but there was further misery for the Aces as they slumped to a heavy 46-20 defeat before rain again intervened to cause an abandonment with 11 of the 15 heats completed.

It leaves the Aces with a mountain to climb when the home leg is re-scheduled.

Wolverhampton made the best possible start with a 5-1 as their powerful opening pair of Sam Masters and ex-Ace Steve Worrall stormed away from Dan Bewley and Norick Blodorn.

Stand-in No.7 Anders Rowe, covering for concussion victim Jake Mulford, battled hard to take a share of heat 2 with Jaimon Lidsey behind home star Zach Cook, and it looked better for the Aces as Tom Brennan and Charles Wright made the start in heat 3.

But Ryan Douglas cut back up the inside of the second bend to take the lead and ensure the points were split 3-3.

Home rising-star Leon Flint was fast away in heat 4 to join Wolves guest Chris Harris in a shock 5-1; the first of three consecutive maximum heat wins, to leave the Aces reeling at 26-10.

Brennan and Wright again battled to a share of the points in heat 7, and there was a gutsy ride from Rowe as he and Blodorn split heat 8 with the Wolves.

Brady Kurtz made a brief challenge to fellow Aussie Ryan Douglas in heat 9, but he couldn’t stop the home side adding another 2 points to the lead as the rain started to fall.

With the track becoming greasy the fast-starting Wolves took advantage to turn the screw, banging home another two 5-1 maximums before a halt had to be called to proceedings at the end of heat 11 with the Aces trailling 46-20 and facing a mammoth task in the second leg if they are to see their cup campaign continue.

The Aces must regroup quickly as they face two crucial away Premiership fixtures starting at Ipswich tonight (Thursday).

The Witches caused quite a stir during the winter as they signed top Russian Grand Prix star Emil Sayfutdinov to join Jason Doyle in a massively powerful spearhead which has seen them rated as one of the favourites for the 2023 Premiership title.

The Aces then travel on to Peterborough on Monday for another league fixture at a track which has been quite successful for them in recent years.

The Belle Vue Colts made a strong start to their National League campaign as they defeated Berwick 61-29 at the N.S.S. on Good Friday.

Skipper Jack Smith and new signings James Pearson and Sam Hagon all went through the card unbeaten, with strong support from the rest of the Colts team.

The meeting was marred by a nasty crash for Berwick’s former Colt Archie Freeman, who collided heavily with teammate Connor Coles in heat 1 after experiencing a machinery failure.

There was an hour’s delay before the re-run of heat 1 to allow treatment to the youngster who suffered a double leg break of tibia and fibula.

The Colts make the journey to Edinburgh on Friday to face a strong Armadale side in another National League clash.

🏃 Tour of Tameside 2023 🏃

We're proud to be delivering this year's four-day running festival, which takes place from 15 to 18 June. 

Find out more and book your place here. 

Want more local sport stories?

Head to https://www.questmedianetwork.co.uk/news/sport/ to see more of our coverage - from community and non-league football to local and county cricket, boxing, athletics, basketball, Esports and golf.