Belle Vue Aces v Peterborough Panthers

Report

BELLE Vue extended their lead at the top of the Sports Insure Premiership with a comfortable 55-35 home win over Peterborough.

The Aces are now seven points clear as they recovered from conceding a 5-1 in Heat 1 at the National Speedway Stadium, and they took the points despite an impressive debut from Panthers’ newcomer Vadim Tarasenko.

Skipper Brady Kurtz scored 14 for the Aces, dropping his only point to Niels-Kristian Iversen in Heat 13, whilst Jaimon Lidsey scored 10 and Rising Star Jake Mulford (4+1) twice got the better of Peterborough captain Hans Andersen.

Tarasenko scored 12 for the Panthers including two race wins, but their Rising Star Jordan Jenkins was withdrawn after aggravating a wrist injury in his second ride.

Kurtz said: “It’s nice to bang in a big score at home and to see the whole team performing so strongly is very rewarding as well. This was another great night for us.

“We’ve got a strong case for the aggregate point when we go to Peterborough next week. We’ll be aiming for the win on the night, but every point is crucial right now.

“To see Jake in the points was really cool and Simon (Lambert) came in and did a great job for us in place of Norick (Blodorn), so things are looking positive for the rest of the year.”

Panthers boss Rob Lyon said: ““It was a great debut from Vadim, the team has been searching for a No.1 all season and he rode like a No.1 really.

“Unfortunately he didn’t have enough back-up for us to make any sort of impact, but he was really impressive.

“Niels had a decent meeting, Ben Cook rode well and also Benjamin (Basso) to a lesser degree, but obviously our hands were tied at reserve.”

SPORTS INSURE PREMIERSHIP R2
BELLE VUE 55: Brady Kurtz 14, Jaimon Lidsey 10, Charles Wright 7+2, Dan Bewley 7+1, Tom Brennan 7+1, Simon Lambert 6, Jake Mulford 4+1.
PETERBOROUGH 35: Vadim Tarasenko 12, Niels-Kristian Iversen 8+1, Ben Cook 6+1, Benjamin Basso 5, Richie Worrall 3, Hans Andersen 1, Jordan Jenkins 0.

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Photo credit: IAN CHARLES