Aces hold off late Wolves fightback to seal win

 

BELLE VUE ACES 50 - 39 WOLVERHAMPTON WOLVES 

Scott Nicholls helped his new side continue their winning start at home in the Elite League this season as the Belle Vue Aces beat the Wolverhampton Wolves in the traditional Good Friday fixture between the two sides seeing of the West Midlands side 50-39. 
Wolves had already won away from home in these opening weeks of the Elite League season, when they beat Belle Vue`s visitors to ‘Kirky Lane’ last Monday Night, in the Leicester Lions winning 46-44 at Beaumount Park back in march.

The Wolves boasted also the new World Champion in their side and despite him not being 100%, Tai Woffinden still gave the Manchester club a hard time in the meeting along with American Ricky Wells.

Belle Vue were looking to make it two wins in a week at home, after they picked up a comfortable victory in their home opener this past Monday night beating the Leicester Lions 56 – 35.  Despite the Aces doing down last Wednesday night to a strong Kings Lynn side 52 - 38, Belle Vue know that a strong home record is important this season in the league.



 Though looking back on this meeting, it was one where Belle Vue nearly let the win slip through their hands when in a very commanding position, but also it was also case of the Wolves being made to pay the price for failing to make their Tactical rides count, with Tai Woffinden and Piotr Pawlicki both falling off in their respective double points races. It also saw the away side claim only three heat advantages in the whole match whilst also seeing the Wolves side have more last place finishes in the meeting than that of the Aces.

In the first race of the afternoon on what was a sizzling day in Manchester, it saw the World Champion Tai Woffinden proving too hot to handle for Matej Zagar, as the Slovenian GP star chased Woffinden for the whole 4 laps but just wasn`t able to get by the Wolves man with Woffinden holding a tight line on the Belle Vue circuit for the win.

Meanwhile Michael Palm Toft had his own battle with Jacob Thorssell to claim the final point and keep third place for a share of the points as the race saw two races in one.

Stefan Nielsen for the second meeting running at home saw him come under the challenge from Tom Perry, who was guesting for the West Midlands side in the meeting and saw him battle for first place with Nielsen, before Perry bit the dust and slid into the first bend and saw Belle Vue record a 4-2 heat advantage with the referee awarding the race with the crash bring a stop to the race.

Richie Worrall holds off Wolves Pair on way to a 5-1

Scott Nicholls and Craig Cook registered a 5-1 maximum in heat 3 for the home side, before Richie Worrall and Nielsen scored a 4-2 to increase lead and then saw Cook at it again soon after with the maximum`s, with him and Matej Zagar getting another 5-1 one to see the Aces lead 21-9 after five races gone.

Heat 6 saw the Wolves team manager Peter Adams pinning his hopes on Tai Woffinden for a Tactical ride, to help see if the visitors could reduce the deficit being opened up by the home side as he went for double points .

 Things didn`t go as the Wolves planned, with Woffinden hitting the deck in the same place Perry fell off in a previous race, to see the double points he was going for blow up in the face of the away side.

In the re-run of the heat it saw Scott Nicholls take the race win as his partner Richie Worrall fell off spectacularly on his own, before picking himself up and pushing his bike off the track with the a 3-2 race win for the Aces as Piotr Pawlicki took second place.

Tai Woffinden (Yellow) gates ahead of  Riders in heat 6

Ricky Wells then made amends for finishing last in his previous outing, with the American popping out of gate and leaving the rest of the riders to literally eat his dust with the track kicking up a lot of dust, due to the hot weather and saw the visitors picking up their first heat advantage of the match, thanks to Tom Perry finishing behind Palm Toft for a 4-2 to the Wolves.

However their comeback was shortlived, as in the next race Scott Nicholls and Richie Worrall combined for some superb team riding to score a 5-1, which saw the duo putting the Aces 31-16 up at the midway stage and seen the home side pulling away further from their opponents in the match.

Stefan Nielsen then won the second reserve race of the meeting, with Perry once again chasing the Dane at the front of the race which saw a share of the spoils for a 3-3.

In Heat 10 Zagar and Palm Toft scored another 4-2 heat victory and saw the Aces lead move to 17 points after Piotr Pawlicki who took the final tactical ride for the Wolves side, saw the Pole hit the fence coming off the second bend and so Belle Vue riders compound the misery on their foes.

However after the interval, the Wolverhampton side had obviously been read the riot act by the Wolves boss Peter Adams and saw them improve scoring two 5-1`s with Woffinden and Wells, who were the strongest pairing for the away side in the match. They beat Nicholls and Cook to reduce the deficit to 13 points, with Wolves duo of Jacob Thorssell and Tom Perry continue the Wolverhampton fight back with another 5-1 to make it 40-31 after 12 heats.

Matej Zagar lead into first bend in HEAT 13 

Heat 13 saw Matej Zagar then stop the run of heat advantages to the away side with the Slovenian beating Woffinden and Pawlicki for a 3-3 race and with another shared race in the penultimate one of the meeting, it saw Wolverhampton down by 9 points knowing that a heat advantage would see them steal a point from a contest from which they were down and out of at one point.

The final race between the sides, saw Ricky Wells and Tai Woffinden come out for Wolverhampton, while Belle Vue manager Jason Attwood made the decision to pick Scott Nicholls and the surprising choice of Richie Worrall in the last race.

 

Both Aces got out of the gate together on a 5-1, but through the dusty conditions Woffinden saw a gap and took Worrall on the inside of the second lap to come through into second place, with Nicholls pulling away and saw him take the Aces home to victory with a 4-2 race win that meant Belle Vue kept their 100% record

alive at home going. Though wasn`t without a late scare by Wolves towards the end of the meeting and sees a possible backlash next Tuesday night, when the sides meet again at Monmore Green in the live televised meeting or the return match.  

Belle Vue Aces :: 50

1. Matej Zagar -- 2,2',3,3 = 10+1
2. Michael Palm Toft -- 1',2,1,1 = 5+1
3. Scott Nicholls -- 3,3,2',1,3 = 12+1
4. Richie Worrall -- 3,F,3,2,1 = 9
5. Craig Cook -- 2',3,Fx,R = 5+1
6. Stefan Nielsen -- 3,1,3,0,1' = 8+1
7. Ben Reade -- 1,0,0 = 1

Wolverhampton Wolves :: 39

1. Tai Woffinden -- 3,Fx,2',2,2 = 9+1
2. Jacob Thorssell -- 0,2,0,2' = 4+1
3. Ty Proctor -- 0,1,1,2 = 4
4. Ricky Wells -- 0,3,3,3,0 = 9
5. Piotr Pawlicki -- 1,2,FX!,1' = 4+1
6. Ashley Morris -- 2,0,1' = 3+1
7. Tom Perry (G) -- Fx,1,2,3,R = 6

ht 6 Woffy fall : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuAAgCPBPgY

ht 11 Cookie crumbles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXSerdC2Vzc

ht 13 Zagar beats World Champion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42xcNike_B8