Aces hope to finish with a flourish

Belle Vue Aces will be looking to end their Premier League season with a flourish as they aim to become the first-ever winners of the new Premier League Supporters’ Cup at Swindon on Thursday night.

The Aces take an eight-point lead into the second leg and will need to defend that if they are to become the inaugural winners of the sport’s newest competition.

Belle Vue’s hopes of building a big lead in last Thursday’s first leg suffered a blow when Kenneth Bjerre was a late withdrawal after suffering an injury racing at home in Denmark the previous night, and the Aces were forced into using the Rider replacement facility, in which his team-mates shared his programmed races between them.

Steady rain falling just before start time made the track conditions unpredictable and the visitors took full advantage, winning each of the first five races, although the Aces packed the minor places to ensure the scores remained locked together at 15-15.

Belle Vue broke the deadlock with a Max Fricke and Steve Worrall 4-2 in heat 6, but Swindon hit back with a maximum win in the next race to swing the two point advantage in their favour.

As the Aces started to get a hold of the meeting Jaimon Lidsey and Dan Bewley took a 5-1 in the ninth race to put them back ahead, and Worrall and Fricke extended the lead to four points in the next.

Belle Vue finally got a piece of luck in heat 13 when Swindon’s former world champion Jason Doyle was disqualified after twice jumping the start. The resulting 5-1 moving the Aces 8 points ahead.

The unique feature of the Supporters’ Cup allows fans to select the riders for the penultimate heat via a poll on social media, and they chose wisely with Bewley and Lidsey selected. The pairing added another two points to the lead at 47-37.

But Doyle hit back for Swindon in the final heat, leaving the Aces with a modest 49-41 lead going into Thursday night's second leg in Wiltshire.

However there is still a chance of more silverware heading to Manchester, as the Belle Vue Colts continue their pursuit of a league and cup double in the National League.

The Colts completed their regular league programme with an impressive 52-38 away win at Plymouth last Friday.

Without skipper Kyle Bickley and 16-year-old Connor Bailey who had commitments with their other club, Glasgow, the Colts utilised Rider Replacement and drafted in guest Drew Kemp.

Kemp notched 10 points to offer good backing to Leon Flint (13 points) and Jordan Palin (11), whilst there was excellent support from the reserve berths with Ben Rathbone on 5+1, and Ben Woodhull a brilliant 7+3.

The Colts fifth win in a row guaranteed them a place in the league title play-offs with second place in the National League table behind leaders Leicester and ahead of third-placed Kent.

Cradley currently hold fourth place, but could be overtaken by Mildenhall if they can take the full four points in their final match at Plymouth on Thursday night.

Once the fourth-placed team is known, Leicester will have choice of who they want to meet in the play-off semi-finals, with the other two teams meeting in the other semi.

The Belle Vue Colts made it six straight victories in a row when they pulled off a 45-39 Knockout Cup semi-final first-leg win at Cradley on Monday night.

Connor Bailey and Danny Phillips led the way with nine points apiece, whilst Kyle Bickley and Leon Flint added 7+1, and their was another good contribution from reserve with Ben Woodhull on 6+2.

The Colts were due to race the second leg at the National Stadium on Wednesday night. 

A cup final appearance awaits provided they are able to defend the six-point first leg advantage, where the likely final opponents will be Leicester, who hold an 18-point first leg lead in their semi-final with Stoke.