PREVIEW: BELLE VUE v IPSWICH (ROWE MOTOR OIL PREM)

ROWE Motor Oil Premiership champions Belle Vue host leaders Ipswich in a televised top-of-the-table clash in Manchester tonight (Monday).

The sides are level on 31 points with the Witches having one match in hand, and both teams are close to officially confirming their place in the play-offs.

The Aces suffered a rare home defeat to their opponents in the KO Cup at the beginning of the season, but they recovered to win their first league clash 52-38 – only to lose the aggregate point when they travelled to Foxhall, and both are mindful that they could meet again for major honours in the autumn.

Both sides are tracking their regular line-ups with home captain Brady Kurtz now just three points off the World Championship lead after completing a hat-trick of GP wins in Latvia on Saturday.

Belle Vue boss Mark Lemon said: “There’s a good chance we will have to beat the Witches over two legs to retain our league title. So we need to show what we are made of.

“Last time here at the National Speedway Stadium both Jason Doyle and Dan Thompson were below par.

“I don’t expect that to happen again, so it’s likely to be a much more hard-fought clash. It should be another epic encounter.”

Witches manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “We have had mixed results there this season with the win in the Cup early doors and defeat in the league meeting, which was one of our more typical Belle Vue performances!

“We will go there looking to get another win and we keep saying it, but we know if we all perform well, we are capable of winning anywhere.

“They are the league champions and are very strong on their home track with two of the top riders in the world.”  

BELLE VUE: Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Jaimon Lidsey, Zach Cook, Dan Bewley, Tate Zischke, Jake Mulford.

IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Danny King, Adam Ellis, Tom Brennan, Emil Sayfutdinov, Dan Thompson, Jason Edwards.

SCB Referee: Chris Gay