HAMMER horror on Kirky Lane

 BELLE VUE ACES 43   -  50  LAKESIDE HAMMERS

Belle Vue saw their recent winning streak come to an end Monday night as the Lakeside Hammers punished them as the Aces went down 43 - 50 to the Essex based side. 

This was the first match the Aces had raced since April 26^th at Peterborough and was the first time Belle Vue had raced on home shale, since the ill-fated abandoned meeting 2 weeks ago, when Belle Vue had called the meeting off against the Poole Pirates due to a burst water pipe flooding the track. But as events transpired and was investigated it was deemed by a SCB (speedway council bureau) official to have been able to still run the meeting , as it wasn`t deemed in still enough to ride on the track and shouldn`t have been called off.

As Belle Vue were missing 2 riders that had flights delayed that day and So Belle Vue promotion found themselves hit with a £5,000 fine and a 3 points deduction in the league standings as the reasons were in breach of the rules.

Belle Vue were missing GP Star Matej Zagar and Captain Ales Dryml for the visit of Lakeside to Kirkmanshulme Lane, as they were riding in a Grand Prix Challenge qualifier in Germany and It turned out, it was a very good meeting for the Aces pair with Dryml finishing in 3^rd place and the winner of the meeting was the Slovenian Champion in Matej Zagar as their placing see them both qualify for the final later in the season.

Replacements Belle Vue drafted in for the meeting were in the form of former Aces riders Chris Harris who ply’s his trade this season for the Birmingham Brummies and Mark Lemon who rides for Premier League side Plymouth Devils.

Things didn`t get off to a good start for Lakeside as Lewis Bridger`s bike had give up on him just as he reached the tapes for the start of heat 1, So as the time ran out he was excluded and chose to use their guest at reserve Josh Grajczonek to replace him in re run. The Ex-Ace couldn`t make any move on the other three riders in the race as his team mate Peter Karlsson beat the home pairing of Chris Harris and Kevin Wolbert to give a share of the spoils and like the first 4 heats in this contest it saw them the sides share a  3 - 3.  

Heat 5 saw the first heat advantage come to the way of the home side as Craig Cook shot out from the starting gate to ride off and leave Peter Karlsson in his wake as his team mate Magnus Zetterstrom finished in 3rd place, which saw the Aces take a 2 point lead with the score at 16 - 14.  Heat 7 saw the Hammers take over as the visiting riders of Kim Nilsson  and Davey Watt scored a big 5-1 over the home side pairing of Mroczka and Lemon to make the score 25 - 23 in favour of the visitors now.

In Heat 9 Lakeside added to their lead with yet another 5 - 1 as this time Piotr Swiderski and Richard Lawson team rode to a big maximum heat win and in doing so made the lead increase to six points now as they gathered momentum. Further heat wins for the away side saw them "Hammer"-home the advantage picking up a 4 - 2 in heat 10 which saw Nilsson overtake Wolbert in the run to the finishing line and just nicking 3^rd place for a 4 - 2 heat win, Then in Heat 11 Bridger and Karlsson combined for an easy 5 - 1 maximum and Lakeside were nearly home and dry as the host side lacked the aggression and ruthlessness saw in previous meetings.

Magnus Zetterstrom was then nominated as a tactical ride in heat 12 as he went for double points, Sadly for the Aces his partner finished at the back, so they got just a 6 - 3 advantage but only pulled back 3 points on their opponents, bringing the score line to 45 - 36 to Lakeside Hammers.

Kauko Nieminen was brought in as a reserve substitute in heat 13, as he replaced the very poor Arthur Mroczka who was out of sorts and looked very slow all meeting. 

Harris made a pass on Swiderski after being left at the back but he wasn`t quick enough to catch the Lakeside number 1 in Karlsson and so both sides shared the points with a 3 – 3, that meant now Lakeside took the win and now it was a matter of could they win by 7 points to take to take the extra bonus point and make it 4 points back down south with them.

Aussie rider Davey Watt won in heat 14 to give us another shared race as the score was 48 - 39 to the away side, Heat 15 in the nominated race saw the pairing of P.K and Davey Watt come out for the Lakeside Hammers while team manager of the Aces Jason Attwood , Put out for Belle Vue Magnus Zetterstrom and Chris Harris in the final race of the night.

Belle Vue gated together on a 5 – 1from the start, but Davey Watt was on Harris`s tail all race and tried everything to pass the Cornishman, Eventually on lap 3 he succeeded as he got past him and held onto 2nd place to deny the home side a maximum heat win in the last race of the night. While Karlsson just rode knowing he couldn`t catch the other 3 riders ahead and finished last.

So Belle Vue disappointing evening came to a close as they lost the meeting by 43 – 50 and they will need Mroczka and the side to be making better improvements, especially in the gating side of things as they lacked that element in this lost. Plus they was muscled out to easily and didn`t have much bite either, as they were bullied round the bends.

Belle Vue Aces: 

1. Chris Harris (G) 2 3 2 2 1 = 10
2. Kevin Wölbert 1* R 3 0 = 4+1
2. Magnus Zetterström 2 1 1 6^ 3 = 13
4. Craig Cook 1*3 0 2 = 6+1
5. Artur Mroczka 0 1 0 = 1

6 Mark Lemon (G) 0 0 1 1*= 2+1
7. Kauko Nieminen 3 3 0 0 1 = 7

Lakeside Hammers: 

1. Peter Karlsson 3 2 2* 3 0 = 10+1
2. Lewis Bridger exc 0 2 3 = 5
3. Kim Nilsson 0 3 1 2 = 6 
4. Davey Watt 3 2* 3 3 2 = 13+1
5. Piotr Swiderski 1* 2 3 0 = 6+1
--------------------------
6. Richard Lawson 2 1* 2* 1* = 6+3
7. Josh Grajczonek (G) 0 1* 2 1* 0 = 4+2