Captain Cook makes the Pirates walk the plank!

BELLE  VUE  ACES  51 -39  POOLE PIRATES 

Belle Vue produced a stunning display to thrash the reigning league champions in the Poole Pirates on Monday night, to see the Aces remain unbeaten at home in the league and end the 100% record of the Dorset side beating them 51-39.

  A late surge of heat advantages towards the end of the meeting proved the difference and saw Craig Cook ride a Captain`s meeting as the Cumbrian rider scored a paid maximum of 13+2 in the victory.

 Poole were missing their reserve pairing of Kyle Newman and Lee Smart but drafted in former Belle Vue Colt Charles Wright, as well as Oliver Greenwood to help the Pirates. The league champions also had the services of former World Champion Chris Holder in the line up as he took the place of 'Injured' Darcy Ward, with his fellow Countryman from Down under is riding for the Pirates as a 28 day injury cover.

Belle Vue came into this meeting on the back of a sensational last heat draw down at Wolverhampton last Tuesday night as Scott Nicholls and Matej Zagar secured two points which included an extra bonus point too, So this match was seen as an indicator to whether the Aces would be challenging for honours in the season as they faced the league champions, in a stern test.

The opening heat saw a stunning 5-1 for the home side as Aces GP star Matej Zagar and Michael Palm Toft, managed to keep Chris Holder behind them as well as fellow Australian Josh Grajczonek, who finished in last place and saw the young Aussie on fire after this heat. 

  Charles Wright and Oliver Greenwood then helped the Pirates cut the lead to just two points, when the young Stockport rider got away with a quick start from the tapes after it looked like he anticipated the tapes a tad early from the human eye, but the referee let it go on and saw Wright pick up the race win for a 4-2 to the away side.

This meeting was very much a sea-saw battle between the sides with them trading heat wins and didn`t include a single drawn heat throughout the meeting.

  Craig Cook got his night off to a flyer when he took the spoils in heat 3, when he left Przemyslaw Pawlicki trailing in his wake as he was unable to catch the Cumbrian rider, while Scott Nicholls claimed third place for a 4-2 heat victory to the Aces.

  Josh Grajczonek then came to the party after his disappointing last place in the opening outing, with him out gating Richie Worrall too see him fly round his old stomping ground with Poole a touch fortunate to score a 4-2 advantage, with Stefan Nielsen looking on course to finish in third place and see a share of the heat. Unfortunately though Nielsen, his bike packed up on the last bend to see Oliver Greenwood nearly collide with the Aces man as he went him to steal a point as the Pirates plunder a 4-2.

Heat 5 saw the pairing of Matej Zagar and Craig Cook cruised to victory over the Polish duo of Pawlicki and Vaclac Milik as they left them for dead too see the Belle Vue pair secure a 5-1 over them.

  Heat 6 saw the lead stretched a bit more when Scott Nicholls beat Chris Holder, after the Poole number one got up the inside of Worrall to see him move into second place. 

  That saw the score then move on to 22-14 for the hosts, with the meeting then entering a Purple patch for the Pirates as they recorded four consecutive heat wins over the Aces to see them lead 31-29 after Heat 10, to see the Dorset side move ahead for the first time in the meeting.

Heat 10 saw Zagar showing off his 'never say die' attitude to the cause when he chased the Polish duo down on every lap but was struggling to find a way round the pairing. As the race headed to it`s conclusion, Zagar then raced with Janowski to the line and pinched second place and that kick started the comeback for the home side.

  Scott Nicholls and Craig Cook shown the former World Champion Chris Holder the quickest way round the 'Kirky Lane' circuit, with them both powering to the front and scored a big heat win which saw Cook on his way to a paid maximum. 

  Poole responded in the next race seeing them draw level at 36-36 after 12 races gone in the meeting. Josh Grajczonek and Oliver Greenwood then scored a 4-2 to put the visitors still in the hunt of claiming a point from the meeting and perhaps even more.

Matej Zagar BATTLES Janowski 

However the remaining three races saw the Aces take Maximum points in all of them, as Zagar rode a superb inside line to come up on the inside of Janowski which saw him join Cook at the front. Heat 14 saw Milik then fall off on the second bend to see the race stopped and had the referee award the race to the hosts making it 46-38 to Belle Vue and saw them needing to avoid a heat loss to secure the full 3 points in the meeting.

  Heat 15 saw Slovenian rider Matej Zagar once again showing his racing talents off when he battled once more into second place, as he got the better of Grajczonek before going to the boards to stop the momentum of the Aussie star. That then saw Zagar and Cook ride away for a 5-1 maximum to see Craig Cook pick up a paid maximum and a massive confidence booster for the rest of the season for the young British rider and one he can now build on.

Zagar in RED HELMET gets ahead of Grajxzonek

Belle Vue took the full three points on offer in the meeting, as they won 51-39 and seen the Pirates sail away empty handed as the Aces trumped their opponents in those final three races to see the Manchester outfit move onto 11 league points level with Wolves and Coventry. 

  The Aces next meeting is a return fixture from a couple of weeks back as they travel to Leicester to face the Lions at Beaumount Park on Saturday Evening.

BELLE VUE ACES : 51

Matej Zagar    12+2

Michael Palm Toft     4+1

Scott Nicholls    9

Richie Worrall     6

Craig Cook   13+2

Stefan Nielsen     7+1

Ben Reade   0

POOLE PIRATES : 39

Chris Holder     4

Josh Grajczonek     8

Przemslaw Pawlicki    9

Vaclac  Milik     3

Macej Janowski    2

Charles Wright      8

Oliver Greenwood     5

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

GIANT win for Manchester sees them thrash Raiders in Playoff Push

 

 

 

MANCHESTER GIANTS     99 - 80   PLYMOUTH RAIDERS

 

Manchester took a 'Giant' step towards claiming one of the two Playoff  berths up for grabs with a thrashing of the Plymouth Raiders 99-80 at home at the Wright Robinson Sports College on Sunday evening and sees them  a victory short of qualifying for the playoffs in only their second year back in the big time. 

Manchester found themselves behind early on in the game with the Raiders making their baskets count with the Giants not being able to contain them on either defence or offence, with them struggling to grab any rebounds that were loose and also saw them unable to get any baskets either with the Raiders in control at first.

The home side were trailing by five points in this potentially deciding game as to whom would have a greater chance of claiming a playoff spot. Manchester head-coach Jeff Jones then called a timeout to try and settle his men down in this important ball game and after that the home side pulled to within two points of the visitors thanks to a Yorick Williams three-pointer that saw the Giants back in the game.

Plymouth came right back at the home side through Former Giants man Nick George and Donald Robinson as the Raiders pair was scoring with ease at times with them putting the visitors back ahead by seven points, midway through the first quarter.

Manchester was really struggling with their rebounding on both ends of the court still and saw Plymouth being much quicker to getting to the loose ball. Manchester came back once more with David Watts leading the charge as Watts grabbed a defensive rebound and saw him the range to hit a three and saw the Giants beginning to find their shooting boots, with Williams and Watts finding a couple of three-pointers for the home side to see them claw their way back. Stefan Gill then stole the ball from Nick George at mid court to see Rob Marsden finish the play off with a basket to tie the game all up at 21 all.

Gill then grabbed a defensive rebound before finding the basket himself seconds later, to put the home side up by two points and with the quarter coming to an end, the Giants led at the first quarter 26-21.

Plymouth then fought back once more in the Seconnd period as they took a one point lead through Gabe Haskins three pointer, to see them lead 29-28 towards the midway mark of the quarter and saw the sides trade the lead a couple of times until James Jones nailed a three point basket and from that point onwards, Manchester never looked in trouble.

James Jones finds the basket in 99-80 win:    Picture: JackHindsPhotography

With the half time hooter fast approaching, the Giants built up a five point to take into the Half time break at 45-40 with the home side upping the work rate now on both ends of the court to see the Raiders side struggling to keep up with Manchester side now. 

The start of the Second half saw the Plymouth Raiders claw the five points back, with Nick George hitting a three point basket to level the game up at 45 a piece. From then on it was the Giants for the rest of the game with Callum Jones scoring both free throws and with Rob Marsden adding a basket for the hosts too, Yorick Williams netted yet another three point basket as it saw Manchester in the ascendency and pulling away from their rivals in the hunt for a playoff spot.

With Manchester controlling and bossing the game from now, it saw them running up a lead of eleven points after Stefan Gill drained a three pointer to see the home crowd on their feet as they witnessing their team, beginning to dismantle a very handy Plymouth side in front of their very eyes.

Gill himself then made two free throws to put the Giants up by thirteen as he increased the lead shortly after to fifthteen points , with David Watts grabbing a defensive rebound and then hitting a long range basket to see them running away with the game as the lead ballooned to eighteen points at 75-57, with just under a minute of play in the Third quarter.

Manchester started the Final quarter off, boasting a massive lead of twenty points and saw the Plymouth side on the verge of being embarrassed by their hosts.

James Jones sank another three points to put the home side enjoying a lead of twenty-five points with the Raiders finding the Giants too hot to handle and all but out of the contest now, but they did managed to reduce the gap as best they could, which saw them trailing 84-67 with just over five minutes of play to go in the match.

Manchester continued to pile on the points on the scoreboard and saw Anthony Purcell another home grown player from the Manchester area, send his three point effort sailing into the basket and had the Giants bench up on their feet to celebrate the basket and shown the togetherness within the squad and saw them have one foot tentatively in the Playoffs, knowing one more win either over the Sheffield Sharks or the London Lions, will all but guarantee their place in the post season playoffs.

BBL Championship 2013-14

 

TEAM	P	W	L	PTS
ESH GROUP EAGLES NEWCASTLE	33	28	5	56
WORCESTER WOLVES	30	25	5	50
ONE HEALTH SHARKS SHEFFIELD	30	24	6	48
LEICESTER RIDERS	33	23	10	46
CHESHIRE PHOENIX	32	18	14	36
LONDON LIONS	31	16	15	32
PLYMOUTH UNIVERSITY RAIDERS	31	13	18	26
MANCHESTER GIANTS	31	13	18	26
DURHAM WILDCATS	31	12	19	24
GLASGOW ROCKS	31	12	19	24
SURREY UNITED	31	4	27	8
BIRMINGHAM KNIGHTS	32	0	32	0