ACES MARCH ON AT SHALEWAY

BELLE Vue consolidated their position at the top of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership with a hard-fought 47-42 victory at Northampton.

The Aces led for most of the meeting at the Shaleway but a mid-meeting seven-point advantage was cut to one, and the match went into a last-heat decider with the Foxes requiring a 5-1 to snatch a win.

But Jason Doyle, who had earlier teamed up with skipper Brady Kurtz for a big maximum advantage in Heat 13, took control for the visitors with Zach Cook adding third place to seal the win.

Doyle top scored with 13 points and Cook picked up nine, whilst Niels-Kristian Iversen won three races to finish on ten for the Foxes who once again fell just short.

Aces manager Mark Lemon said: “We came and delivered, we got the result, which was nice although I did feel a bit for Northampton because they battled away and conditions were pretty testing for both teams.

“We just had the edge all night, but they kept pulling it back and (Matej) Zagar showed some class towards the end. Our boys rallied and never gave up, and we deserved the win.

“Ironically Jason had a problem with an engine before the meeting, and Brady had a problem in Heat 13 where he was lucky to survive the four laps, hence why he didn’t go out in Heat 15 jumping onto a fresh bike, so we had a bit of luck in fairness.”

Foxes boss Chris Adams said: “We put up a good fight and as is customary for the Foxes’ style we took them to another last heat decider, but unfortunately fell a little bit short.

“A few last places and not enough heat winners cost us during the night. It’s the consistency side of it, and we’ve seen it in every single meeting – we’ll have five of us going well, and then another night it will be a different five, but never all seven.”

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Photo credit:JEFF DAVIES