BEWLEY WINS IT FOR ACES
DAN Bewley snatched a dramatic 46-44 win for champions Belle Vue at King’s Lynn in a ROWE Motor Oil Premiership opener which went right down to the wire.
Bewley came out on top in an epic Heat 15 scrap with Chris Harris, defeating the Stars rider on the line by 0.02s, whilst Aces skipper Brady Kurtz took the vital third place ahead of Nicolai Klindt.
It was a big confidence boost for the Aces after their disastrous KO Cup defeat at Ipswich last week, whilst the Stars were left to rue an astonishing run of mechanical issues, as three times in the first six races they saw riders break down on 5-1 positions.
Free-scoring Harris led the way for the home side with 14+3 from seven rides and Klindt scored 10, whilst Kurtz (13) was unbeaten until the final race and Bewley picked up 10.
Aces boss Mark Lemon said: “I had a tough decision for heat 15. Jaimon Lidsey was riding quite well and had popped out the start a couple of times to pick up two nice wins.
“But Dan had speed all night but just couldn’t capitalise on it. I thought it was a gamble off gate four. That wasn’t working great. We just knew Dan had speed. Dan is world class for a reason.
“We saved the best for last. I do feel a little bit for King’s Lynn. They had three bike stoppages and a few crashes.
“That didn’t help their scoreline. You take what you can sometimes and you ride your luck.”
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that sort thing before really, it was just unbelievable.
“I said to Mark, ‘have you put a curse on us in some way?’ because it felt like that, but it was incredible, especially being on 5-1s and to have them turned into 3-3s was so frustrating, and obviously it was the difference between us winning and losing the meeting.
“But that’s speedway I guess. We deserved to win it hands down but we didn’t, and that’s the bottom line.
“What we have proved tonight is that we’re more than capable of competing with those type of teams, with that set-up of big hitters, so whilst we’re disappointed we move on to the next one.”
Watch the action from Heat 15 here (courtesy of ReRun Productions)
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Photo credit: DEREK LEADER
