Birmingham Brummies v Belle Vue Aces

Report

BELLE Vue held on for their second away win of the season to boost their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-off push as they triumphed 46-44 at Birmingham.

The Aces raced into an eight-point lead at Perry Barr after just two races and held a 38-28 advantage with four heats remaining, before the Brummies fought back.

The home side reduced the deficit to four points heading into the last race, but Aces skipper Brady Kurtz crucially split Fredrik Lindgren and Tom Brennan to get the visitors over the line.

Kurtz was outstanding with 15+1 from six rides despite two heavy crashes in the initial stagings of Heat 1, whilst Norick Blodorn (9) won three races. Lindgren and Brennan both scored 10+1 for the Brummies.

Said Kurtz: “We definitely needed a win at Birmingham. It’s a tough place to come but we did have some expectations of ourselves to win but it was no easy feat.

“They have a pretty god team and they are strong at home, and we did miss Dan [Bewley] especially in the big races but it’s credit to the team that we pulled off the win.

“Everybody chipped in and gave a great performance so hopefully we can push on from here. We’ve got some big meetings coming up and we need to get dialled in for the play-offs.”

Brummies manager Sam Ermolenko said: “The Belle Vue riders were quicker out of the starts early on and they attacked the track.

“The track was wet, don’t get me wrong, but it’s the same for both teams.

“It took our riders a couple of track grades to start figuring it out and it’s just that consistency we need that they’ve been asking for for a while now.”

BIRMINGHAM 44: Fredrik Lindgren 10+1, Tom Brennan 10+1, Piotr Pawlicki 9+1, Zach Cook 6+3, Wiktor Lampart 6+1, Michael Palm Toft 2, Leon Flint 1.
BELLE VUE 46: Brady Kurtz 15+1, Norick Blodorn 9, Jaimon Lidsey 7, Ben Cook 7, Antti Vuolas 5+1, Jake Mulford 3+1,Dan Bewley r/r.

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Photo credit: IAN CHARLES