SPIRES INSPIRED AGAINST ACES

OXFORD Spires maintained their play-off push with a 53-37 win over Belle Vue to move to within one point of the Aces.

The Cowley side ended their run of close home matches with a convincing overall display to set things up for the return ROWE Motor Oil Premiership fixture in Manchester on Monday.

Rohan Tungate and Chris Harris both scored 12+1 in an impressive Spires display, and Harris broke the track record only for that to be beaten shortly after by Dan Bewley.

The British Champion and Speedway of Nations winner scored 12 for the Aces, but they fell away from six to 16 points down over the closing stages.

Aces boss Mark Lemon said: “We have to give credit where credit is due. Conditions were tough tonight but Oxford handled them better than we did and had a bit more firepower on the track.

“We have no excuses. We were simply outperformed and didn’t race to our capabilities, but now we know what we have to do to turn things around come Monday.

“A 16-point deficit is not an easy margin to overcome but we have closed down bigger gaps than this in the past, and if any team can do it we can.”

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Photo credit: STEVE EDMUNDS