PREVIEW: BELLE VUE v SHEFFIELD (Prem KOC)

BELLE Vue and Sheffield face their first Roses clash of 2024 as the sides meet in Manchester at midday today (Monday) in the Premiership KO Cup.

The Aces host the first leg of the tie and will look to build an advantage ahead of Thursday’s return at Owlerton, with the Tigers having reached the Final last year where they lost out to Ipswich.

Both sides are unchanged from their early league fixtures, with neither having raced a home match so far this year.

Aces boss Mark Lemon said: “It’s been a good while since Belle Vue lifted the Knockout Cup – seven years in fact! – and we’d love nothing better than to take a hefty lead to Owlerton on Thursday.

“The Tigers have found things pretty tough to kick things off. We’ve been there, done that. It’s harder to retain a league title than it is to win one, and they do have their work cut out.

“But with likes of (Tai) Woffinden and the Holder brothers in their side, they are a force to reckoned with. Whatever happens, I’m anticipating a close and exciting afternoon of racing.”

Sheffield manager Simon Stead said: “Before this season got started I spoke about us going one further this campaign – and the only way we can do that is by doing the double.

“So it’s a competition we’re taking very seriously, and with our first tie being against our good rivals Belle Vue, it makes us want to win it even more.

“It won’t be easy though, and we’re going to need to be right at it from the get-go because they’ve built another solid team this year.”

BELLE VUE: Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Jaimon Lidsey, Ben Cook, Dan Bewley, Connor Mountain, Connor Bailey.
SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Kyle Howarth, Chris Holder, Josh Pickering, Tai Woffinden, Jason Edwards, Dan Gilkes.
SCB Referee: Graeme Hunter