A tense afternoon of racing saw Belle Vue host its first ever Sport Insure Premiership Super Heat after the ATPI Aces pushed Wolverhampton to a 45-45 victory at the National Speedway Stadium.
The visitors had held a commanding presence for the majority of the afternoon and, at one point, established a significant 8-point lead over the home team.
But in Heat 13, the bumper crowd watched on eagerly as the Belle Vue big guns flexed their muscle with Brady Kurtz and Dan Bewley delivering a superb 5-1 to commence their comeback.
Then, a crucial 4-2 in Heat 14 courtesy of Charles Wright and Jake Mulford gave the reigning champions the opportunity they needed to force the Wolves into a last-heat decider.
Kurtz and Bewley again delivered and brought the scores to 45-45 and sending the meeting into Super Heat territory, with the crowd on tenterhooks as the final four laps prepared to play out.
Visiting No.4 Ryan Douglas made the gate, with Bewley close behind, and one final swoop from captain Kurtz to pass Luke Becker was enough to seal the home win for the ATPI Aces.
The evening fixture at Monmore Green almost played out in an identical fashion to that of the Manchester leg, with the Parrys International Wolves at first dominating proceedings.
But another late fight-back from the ATPI Aces threatened a second potential Super Heat with the scores standing at 43-41 with just one race to go.
The Wolves, however, stood firm in their final gambit and Sam Masters delivered a 3-3 in Heat 15 to secure Wolves the 46-44 win in the Black Country.
Club No.1 Dan Bewley said: “Things were pretty tight for a while, especially in the morning fixture but we found a few things towards the end and we got a fantastic win.
“I had a bit of a rough start, got filled in during my first ride and had mechanical problems in my second. In the first running of that I went down and got some dirt in the breather of my fuel pipe.
“That ended up vacuuming the tank and I ran out of fuel. It’s one of those things but we turned it around when we needed to and I think the supporters enjoyed it.
“Similar kind of story for the team in the evening meeting. We didn’t maybe start out the best but as the night went on we got to grips with conditions and pulled things back.
“We gave ourselves a great shot of the win and the aggregate point but hats off to Sam [Masters]. He knows the Monmore track better than most and it just wasn’t to be for us that time.
“But I think the way we performed reflected the level of progress we’ve made since we last went to Wolves. The difference is chalk and cheese and I think we can be proud of ourselves today.”
The ATPI Aces take to the track next Monday, June 5 with the Ipswich Witches headed to the National Speedway Stadium for the first time this season.
Words: Hayley Bromley
Images: Ian Charles
