Speedway: Lemon Named New Belle Vue Boss

Mark Lemon wearing the Aces colours
Back in 2012

  This past Monday saw Belle Vue announce the arrival of a former Aces rider and the current Australian Team Manager in the shape of Mark Lemon being newly installed as the man to take over in the at Kirkmanshulme Lane hot seat, with the Aussie replacing outgoing Jason Attwood as the new boss at Belle Vue for the upcoming season. The Aces will hope that change in management will help kick start a new era going forward for the club, as they look to start making plans for their final year at their current home of 26 years at the Belle Vue greyhound stadium, with them hope to finally move into their brand new £11m state of the art National Speedway Stadium which is hoped to be ready in time for the start of the 2016 Elite league season.

The Appointment of Lemon sees the Aces having their fifth Team Manager in seven years at ‘Kirky Lane’ with the Bairnsdale-native taking on the new role, after talks last month between himself and the Belle Vue promotion had the former Ace originally coming on board in a different capacity as Lemon explains:

"I met up with David Gordon and Chris Morton in Torun last month, and when they learned I was planning to retire they said they had something I might be interested in getting involved with.
 

"I've always been keen on the project they've got going with the National Speedway Stadium and Academy, and that snowballed into them asking me if I wanted to be team manager.

"I've had a lot of fun with my racing over the years but unfortunately my injuries are coming back to haunt me, so I feel now is a good opportunity to move on and tackle new challenges".

The Aces faithful will be hoping he can bring some of his grit he shown when he rode for the club back in 2012, as if his management with the Aces is anything like his managing with Australia, then they will be back in business for sure. 'Lemmo' will hope he can inject some of his enthusiasm into the Belle Vue side next year, with the Aces being on many occasions in recent seasons seemingly lacking in direction and focus while having trouble to transition teams that look good on paper, out on to track which has seen performances from many riders lacking in focus over the years.

 Pre-season predictions last year had the Aces tipped to be challenging for a playoff spot come the end of the season at the very least, but those hopes ended in the opening couple of months with the fact that the men from Manchester failed to win on their travels all year and finished above new boys to the league last year in the Leicester Lions, who themselves picked up more bonus points on the road than the Aces did.

Belle Vue will hoping that his contacts within the sport and his 25 years of experience in speedway, will hold him in good stead and will hopefully catapult the most successful speedway side in Britain, back up the table and challenging for honours instead of wallowing around at the bottom of the table, of which has been a familiar trait for the Belle Vue fans to deal with on a regular basis since 2006.

Despite the new Aces manager looking ahead to the Elite league, he will also be looking forward to helping Australian go for World Cup glory to as he is the current Australian team manager as previously mentioned and will have the task of trying to get his beloved homeland back on top of the speedway mountain once again the battle for the Ove Fundin trophy rolls around in June. However his biggest task will be trying to awaken a sleeping giant in Belle Vue Speedway after many years in the doldrums.

Lemon will be getting his team building started straight from the off too, as this coming week sees the second season of the ‘Fast Track draft’ system taking place and where a couple of riders on the radar for the new man in charge may see him make a potential move for a former Ace.

Jason Garrity is one name being mentioned about a possible return to his local track, to which is one possibly of happening, after the Droylsden-based youngster an incredible season riding at Coventry last year under the fast track system and saw him show he is one of the future riders for Great Britain.

Another option he has is Steve Worrall, the younger brother of Richie who rode for the Aces last year. Steve though certainly outshone his older brother on the track last season, with the St Helens born rider picking up a fair few high scores in his time down at Swindon last year and also took many guest bookings too, plus there is also the added factor of Worrall being a Belle Vue Asset so it is an interesting start for Lemon`s regime as the opening team building plans are well and truly underway.