The Belle Vue Aces closed their Premiership campaign at Swindon on Thursday night, where they went down 56-34 and missed out on Supporters Cup silverware 97-83 on aggregate.
The Rentruck Aces travelled to the Abbey Stadium with an 8-point lead after triumphing 49-41 in Manchester, and got the defence of that lead off to a good start with a close contest.
But by Heat 6, the Robins had levelled the aggregate scores and set about extending their advantage on the night to 10 points after ten races as the visitors continued to battle.
A 5-1 for the Rentruck Aces in Heat 11, courtesy of Max Fricke and Steve Worrall, pulled things back to within 6 points with four to go, though Swindon were quick to respond.
Four consecutive 5-1s in favour of the home side sealed them the win on the night, as well as the Supporters Cup trophy, and team boss Mark Lemon was understandably frustrated.
He said: “The boys put up a good fight, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to get us the finish we wanted, and the bottom line is that we were beaten by a better team on the night.
“It’s hard to find the positives, but the fighting spirit of this team stopped Swindon from walking away with this meeting at the start. They were resilient and, I feel, worthy finalists.
“Some circumstances got the better of us, one being Kenneth [Bjerre] having another big off in Denmark on Wednesday for example, which should’ve ruled him out; but he really wanted to be here.
“It’s a frustrating end to our season because this is a good team, but for whatever reason this year it just hasn’t happened for them. But we’ll be back even stronger next year.”
The Cool Running Colts face Kent in their play off semi-final first leg next Saturday, September 28 as they launch their bid for National League title silverware in Manchester.
Tickets are available online at www.bellevue-speedway.com, or at the stadium box office on race night.
