Belle Vue Aces on cusp of winning first Speedway Premiership title for 29 years
Belle Vue Aces are on the cusp of winning their first Premiership title for 29 years, with 12 points in the bag ahead of their crunch second leg at Sheffield Tigers.
It was a night of Mexicans, mayhem and magic in Manchester on Monday 10 October as the Aces strained every sinew to get a 51-39 win against Sheffield in the Premiership Grand Final.
The National Speedway Stadium was almost a sell-out and the famous home cult fans turned out in their sea of sombreros.
But on a night of big crashes, Belle Vue lost both Charles Wright and Jye Etheridge with injuries and will miss the second leg on Thursday night. It has left the destiny of the title on a knife-edge at Owlerton Stadium.
Matej Zagar said: “Every day brings something new, I hope Thursday can be a good day for us.
“Finals have their own level and pressure like we saw today, many things happened but we’ll give it 100 per cent. I prefer to have 12 points in the bag.
“I’ve said so many times that being in England has turned my season around. The way I was welcomed at Belle Vue at the Peter Craven meeting was amazing and it’s kept going all the time until tonight. It’s sad that this is the last meeting of this year.”
Belle Vue boss Mark Lemon admitted that they will go into the second leg without Charles Wright and Jye Etheridge after their nasty incidents.
Lemon said: “It’s not been an ideal night for us. When we look at Grand Finals we’ve had, we’ve never had a 12-point lead before. That’s one hell of a positive.
“The meeting was pretty intense. There’s a job to do, one team has to win in the end and it might as well be us.
“Our thoughts are with Charles and Jye. They are pretty banged up and bruised. I’ll be surprised if either race on Thursday. It will be down to the five guys here and bring someone in for Jye at reserve.
“The boys have been chipping away all year, they’ve had a goal in mind and they don’t want to let it go now.”
It was a remarkable backs-to-the-wall performance from the Aces despite losing Wright and Etheridge.
Tom Brennan delivered a really plucky display to score paid eight including two vital 5-1s in the second half of the meeting.
He said: “It was a fantastic meeting to watch, it’s just a shame with what happened to Charles and Jye, we wish them all the best. They’ve done a great job all year so for them to crash out now is a big blow.
“We’ve got a really tough job ahead now. But we’ll be fighting all the way. This team has got a really big spirit.”
German star Norick Blodorn has been such a plucky performer all season and produced another key return covering from Etheridge.
He added: “It was a busy night for sure. I enjoyed it and rode as hard as I could. I don’t think I’ve ever tried that hard on a speedway bike before. I just didn’t have the speed but I did as much as I could on the night.
“We have a 12-point lead and I’ve had a great season with the Aces, it’s been the dog’s b******s!”
Captain Brady Kurtz also produced a dazzling display, dropping just three points, unbeaten by an opponent in his last three rides.
He concluded: “Sheffield are a really good team. We can be pleased to get the 12-point lead with only five riders in the end. I think that’s a really good result.
“Everyone chipped in when we needed them to. It all comes down to Thursday now and that’s all that matters.”