A challenging night at the office saw Belle Vue leave Rye House with a hard-earned consolation point after biting back against the resilient Rockets, who took a 44-48 victory in Hoddesdon.
Heat 1 would set the tone for a very close encounter as the Rentruck Aces took the early lead only for it to be stolen by the BMR Rockets four races later, before the compliment was returned.
The hosts soon got to grips with proceedings though after making full use of Krzysztof Kasprzak at reserve and the multitude of experience shared between the British elements of their side.
By Heat 11, Belle Vue were in tactical territory with plenty of work to do if they hoped to at least gain the consolation point, with Craig Cook taking maximum six points from the black and white.
With one to go, it was the Rockets’ to lose as they led by eight going into Heat 15. But a last-gasp 5-1 from Cook and Kenneth Bjerre ensured the visitors did not finish their night empty-handed.
Team boss Mark Lemon said: “Both sides were so competitive and in some respects I feel that Rye House had a little more luck than perhaps we got, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.
“Adam Ellis did a superb job for us in place of Rohan Tungate and it was just so unfortunate that he threw a chain while on a 5-1 with Steve Worrall which caused the latter to come down hard.
“Even despite things like that though I was confident in our boys to bounce back. The first half of the meeting was crazy with the lead constantly to-ing and fro-ing between both sides.
“You could see what a difference there was between Gates 2 and 4, and 1 and 3 in the first few heats but things settled down towards the end and we finished off in a really impressive manner.
“You don’t know what team you’re going to get when you face Rye House but we certainly got the feisty one on Wednesday; the one which is proving itself to be true Play-Off contenders.”
Competition is fierce in the National League this Friday, August 18, as the Cool Running Colts look to extend their league lead against Birmingham. Tickets available at www.bellevueaces.co
Words: Hayley Bromley,Images: Ian Charles
