Pack of Aces out trump Coventry

BELLE VUE ACES  51 - 42  COVENTRY BEES

Belle Vue Aces shown Coventry how to close out a meeting as they beat their Midlands rival at Kirkmanshulme lane Monday night 3 days after the sides drawn 45 all down in Coventry Brandon Stadium Friday evening. The Aces were buoyed by the comeback they made against their opponents in the last meeting as they were 30-18 down and took a last heat decider to draw the match and the Aces were all smiles and full of beans coming into this meeting. Belle Vue welcomed back Craig Cook to the line up as the rising star in British speedway from Cumbria was away with his parent club Edinburgh Monarchs which was called off prior to the Elite league clash. 

Coventry also had a guest for Adam Roynon in the shape of Anders Mellgren who rides for Rye House Rockets in the Premier League and so not much was expected from the Swedish Rider to be fair as it was his first time on the Kirky lane circuit as was Mateusz Szczepaniak. Belle Vue were hoping for better luck as their last home match resulted in disappointment losing to Wolverhampton 47-43 on Good Friday in front of a bumper crowd that day. This match however was raced in front of a very small crowd due to ongoing Manchester Derby being played at Old Trafford at the same time so Speedway was always going to play second fiddle to the football on this night.

But Belle Vue were determined to put on a good show for the fans that did turn up to watch speedway and they instantly delighted the fans as the Aces got out on a 5-1 and the pair of Matej Zagar and Kevin Wolbert carried on from where they left off in Coventry as started how they meant to go on. 

Coventry hit right back in the reserves race as Michal Szczepaniak and Anders Mellgren scored a 5-1 to level at 6-6 as the Belle Vue pair looked poor in their opening ride and weren`t filling fans with confidence for the night ahead. The home side were on another 5-1 in heat 3 when Grzegorz Zengota took his team mate wide and both hit the dirt with Zengota getting the exclusion for the cause of the stoppage.

In the re-rerun the Belle Vue pair of Magnus Zorro Zetterstrom & Craig Cook team rode round for the easy maximum points, The home side stretched their lead bit more as Artur Mroczka won by a distance as he made sure they got the points and left Kauko Nieminen to fend off Scott Nicholls till the Great British international got passed him and ended up being a 4-2 for the Aces and made it 15-9 after 4 races.

In the next heat Coventry hit some luck as Zetterstrom and Kasprzak battled passing each other a few times on way to the start of lap 2, Zorro managed to get the upper hand and Belle Vue were on a 4-2 and looking good for the win, That was till Zorro had to retire as he picked up a bike problem and so Krzysztof Kasprzak couldn`t believe his luck when he had fresh air ahead of him and won the race ahead of Cook for a 4-2 advantage for the Bees.

Matej Zagar and Kevin Wolbert banged in another 5-1 as Zagar out gated Nicholls and Wolbert left it wound on to fly round the Bees Captain and join Zagar for a 5-1 heat win, Mroczka kept up his impressive start to the meeting with another win as he rocketed from the start to the first bend and had the Bees pair follow behind but Dryml was riding poorly as he slow all meeting and never looked like scoring a point all evening. Coventry felt more pain as Michal Szczepaniak gated but was chased down by Kevin Wolbert as he stalked the Pole before the German passed him on second lap and was overtook by the Finn on 3rd lap and make matters worse Summers had an Engine failure on the start gate and so they got yet another 5-1 score line. Making a déjà vu moment as we reached heat 9 and the score was 30-18 which was spookily exactly the same as it Friday night.

Gary Havelock the Coventry team manager made a baffling decision when he nominated Anders Mellgren for Tactical double points when Scott Nicholls was the clear choice. Mellgren was off gate 4 which was by far the best gate of the meeting but the Swede missed the gate and the Aces of Cook and Zetterstrom let Nicholls plough on and just team ride holding onto 2nd and 3rd place and stop them getting double points. So Coventry missed a trick not putting the black and white coloured helmet on the captain.

Zagar and Wolbert got their 4th straight 5-1 in a row if you count the final race at Brandon as well, as it was all too easy for the men wearing the big Ace of clubs logo on their chest. Coventry then nominated in their last throw of the dice Kasprzak as double points  in heat 11 and the race was re run as the riders bunched on the bend with Dryml hitting the deck and the referee harshly calling for the Czech rider to be excluded leaving Artur Mroczka on his own. The Bees scored a 7-2 as they couldn`t managed the full 8-1 as Arthur managed to keep the pair split.

Nieminen and Zorro scored a 5-1 in response as Zorro came from the back to join his team mate and they rode to the chequered flag as the Coventry pairs looked disinterested in the race, Coventry got some joy as their 2 big name riders scored a 5-1 in heat 13 with Kasprzak & Nicholls beating Mroczka and Zagar who was took right to the fence on the 2nd bend and after that his race was over. Heat 14 saw Craig Cook and Kauko Nieminen get a 5-1 over the Szczepaniak brothers for a 51-36 score line as we headed to the last race of the night. Coventry put their top riders out again as Belle Vue put Zorro and Wolbert who had a paid maximum the chance to race in heat 15. Sadly the Aces couldn`t finish off in style as the Coventry Bees pairing got a 5-1 after Nicholls retook Zetterstrom on lap2 after Zorro had passed him on the lap previous.

Belle Vue finally got their first win of the season and monkey off their back as they now look forward to the Sky TV match next Monday as they host the Peterborough Panthers and the return of one Patrick Hougaard who has struggled at the East of England Showground so far in his move away from Kirkmanshulme lane.

Belle Vue Aces 52

1. Matej Zagar 3 3 3 0 =9

2, Kevin Wolbert 2* 2* 3 2* 0 =9+3

3. Magnus Zetterstrom 3 r 2 2* 1 =8+1

4. Craig Cook 2* 2 1* 3 =8+2

5. Artur Mrockza 3 3 2 1 =9

6. Ales Dryml 1 0 exc =1

7. Kauko Nieminen 0 1 2* 3 2* =8+2

Coventry bees 41

1. Krzysztof Kasprzak 1 3 6^ 3 3 =16

2. Araon Summers 0 1 r 1 =2

3. Grzegorz Zengota exc 1 fexc 1 =2

4. Mateusz Szczepaniak 1 2* 1 0 =4+1

5. Scott Nicholls 2 1 3 2* 2* =10+2

6. Anders Mellgren 2* 0 0^ 0 =2+1

7. Michal Szczepaniak 3 0 1 1 =5


HEAT 10