Aces brought down by Wolves!

BELLE VUE SPEEDWAY 42   WOLVERHAMPTON WOLVES 48

Belle Vue recent winning streak of late finally came to an end on Monday night as they went down to a reverse score line of last Monday`s meeting at Monmore Green, with the Wolverhampton Wolves picking up 3 league points with a 48-42 win at Kirkmanshulme Lane.

Belle Vue were forced into a late change, when Swedish rider Magnus Zetterstrom had to pull out of the meeting moments before it started, with a Shoulder problem that he picked up in the away leg of this match the week before. So Belle Vue were forced to use Rider Replacement for him for the meeting, as they were a man down before the meeting got going.

In the opening heat of the match Matej Zagar took the opening race win for Belle Vue, when the Slovenian GP star held off the stern challenge of current G.P leader Britain`s own Tai Woffinden, as they shared the heat 3-3.

Wolverhampton`s reserve pairing in the match was Ludvig Lindgren and Guest from the Ipswich Witches, Australian Cameron Heeps. The Wolves pair took a 5-1 heat maximum  with Andrew Tully pushing hard to pass Heeps, but hit a rut on the 3rd bend and so slid off towards the safety fence which gave them the easy 5-1. 

Craig Cook who has matured into a better rider since recently being given the captaincy duties for the Aces, saw him and guest rider Dakota North from the Peterborough Panthers getting a 5-1 for Aces, with them both pulling away from Wolves number 5 Adam Skornicki and Cameron Heeps in Heat 4, that race win  made it 12-12.

In the following race, the Wolves responded and opened up their 4 point lead again, as Woffinden and Ricky Wells scored a 5-1 for the Wolves as the Aces pair of Kevin Wolbert and Ulrich Ostergaard looked way off pace to their opponents in the race, which saw them 17-13 ahead in the contest.

Wolves went further ahead, with Skornicki beating Zagar along with his team mate Ludvig Lindgren getting third spot for a 4-2 race win as Belle Vue were starting to get into bother now.

CRAIG COOK   Via: MEN SPORTS

Heat 7 saw an incredible race involving Craig Cook, the Aces captain provided a lot of entertainment for the home fans, as early on in the race Cook had lost his steel shoe and so he was made to take the wide line on the track.

Wolves rider Robert Miskowiak was leading the race as Cook was gaining on him all the time, but he just couldn`t find the telling move to get by him. Then on the final bend, Cook cut back up the inside of the Pole and raced Miskowiak to the line with Cook getting the race win.

Dakota North then took the next heat win as Belle Vue were clawing the deficit back with a 4-2 scoreline with Danish rider Ulrich Ostergaard getting third place after Cameron Heeps had been exclude in the re run, after colliding with Wells back wheel and was eventually withdrawn with an injury from it.

After two good heat victories for the Aces, Belle Vue’s weakest pair of Wolbert & Ostergaard found themselves on the end of yet another 5-1 against them as this time, Skornicki and (Ludvig) Lindgren was getting the heat advantage for the visitors, which saw them lead after 9 races 31-23.

With two shared heats involving one of them ,seeing Craig Cook beating Tai Woffinden in the battle of the young British riders in heat 11. 

Heat 12 then saw Kevin Wolbert split the Lindgren brothers up, with Ludvig winning the heat as the Wolves increased their lead up to 10 points with 3 heats to go.

Heat 13 saw the Wolverhampton riders suffer from a couple of problems in the race. Adam Skornicki was leading coming off the 2nd bend when his bike packed up, which then gave Zagar & Cook a 5-1 heat win, which saw Woffinden trailing far behind the Aces, as he looked to have give up on the final lap and this gave the Aces hope, of another late fight back in this match.

TAI WOFFINDEN Pic via SGP

Miskowiak put paid to those chances, as he took the race win in Heat 14 to end all hopes of a comeback for the Aces as the score was 39-45 as we headed into the last race of the night.

Heat 15 saw Freddie Lindgren partner Ricky Wells against the Belle Vue pair of Matej Zagar and Captain Craig Cook in the line up.

Just as the tapes were about to go up Matej Zagar ploughed through the tapes and was told to go back 15 metres in the re-run. Matej Zagar then in the re run found himself floundering at the back of the field and decided to entertain the crowd, he then started to perform a variety of different wheelies to excite the crowd.

The crowd were more caught up on Zagar`s wheelies, than that of the actual race it`s self.  The referee didn`t find it entertaining, as they flashed the blue light excluding the Aces Number for not racing properly as he continued on for the four laps. The track was so slick all night, that passing was almost non-existent and so Zagar knew he wasn`t going to get close enough so he put on a show instead and the fans lapped it up.

Craig Cook got the race win and got a paid maximum to boot as well, which saw the Cumbrian rider score 14+1 from 5 rides, yet the Aces next week against Poole Pirates will be without the services of their Captain, as Cook will be riding for his parent club the Edinburgh Monarchs against the Workington Comets in a Second v Third placed match in the Premier League table.

HEAT 11 VIDEO:   Cook and Woffinden

heat 13:  Cook and Zagar   pick up 5-1! 

Belle Vue Aces = 42 

1. Matej Zagar - 3 , 2 , 1' , 3 , X = 9+1

2. R/R for Magnus Zetterstrom - (KW = 0 , DN = 0 , UO = 1 , AT = T/DN = 2)

3. Kevin Wolbert - 0 , 2 , 0 , 0 , 2 = 4

4. Ulrich Ostergaard - 1' , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1' = 5+2

5. Craig Cook - 3 , 3 , 3 , 2' , 3 = 14+1 PAID MAX

6. Andrew Tully (Guest) - 0 , 0 , T , F/X = 0

7. Dakota North (Guest) - 1 , 2' , 0 , 3 , 2 , R , 2 = 10+1

Wolverhampton Wolves = 48 

1. Tai Woffinden - 2 , 3 , 2 , 1 = 8

2. Ricky Wells - 1' , 2' , 2 , 1' , 2 = 8+3

3. Freddie Lindgren - 3 , 1' , 3 , 1 , 1' = 9+2

4. Robert Miskowiak - 0 , 2 , 0 , 3 = 5

5. Adam Skornicki - 1 , 3 , 3 , 0 = 7

6. Ludvig Lindgren - 2' , 1 , 2' , 3 , 0 = 8+2

7. Cameron Heeps (Guest) - 3 , 0 , F/X = 3 (Withdrawn)