Speedway: Wolves 39 Belle Vue 51

July 26, 2005

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A STUNNING display by Simon Stead led rampant Belle Vue to their fourth away Elite League win in a row on a mudheap Wolverhampton track last night, writes RICHARD FROST.

The meeting was nearly an hour late starting while trackstaff battled to get a waterlogged circuit fit for racing and the home side seemed set for a comfortable win when they led 31-23 after nine races.

But with Andy Smith, Rusty Harrison and Jason Lyons all struggling, team manager Ian Thomas slid mudlark Stead in for extra rides and he responded with five wins in seven races and an 18-point haul.

He was brilliantly supported by world champion Jason Crump who won his five races while Kenneth Bjerre had one win and three seconds in his ten points.

The Fonestyle UK Aces turned the match when Joe Screen ended a slow start by winning heat ten and then they piled in with maximum points in four of the last five races

The win, their eighth in 10 matches this month, was worth three points as they tacked on the bonus for winning on aggregate over the home and away fixtures. It extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points over Poole, and the Aces now look certain to qualify for end-of-season play-offs.

Jubilant boss Thomas said: "When we were eight points down I would have been happy to go home with the bonus points. To get the win as well was a bonus."

WOLVERHAMPTON: D Howe 8, C Gjedde 6, S Johnston 6, F Lindgren 6, K Pecyna 5, R Correy 4, J Grieves 4.

BELLE VUE: S Stead 18, J Crump 15, K Bjerre 10, J Screen 7, J Lyons 1, A Smith 0, R Harrison 0.

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Ian, Manchester (26/07/2005 at 13:19)

Another brilliant away performance by the Aces.

Eight wins from 10 matches in July.
20 points taken from a maximum 24 and 2 bonus points set up ready for the taking. A brilliant July.

MEN Sports personalities of the Month for July? The Belle Vue Aces!!!!

Phil, Manchester (26/07/2005 at 15:27)

Superb stuff last night.

Not even Wolves presenting a shocking ploughed field of a track could stop the mighty Aces.

What a superb July. 10 matches....8 wins...and there's still the cup to come.

Garry Cook, Preston (26/07/2005 at 15:51)

It was immensely satisfying to win this one and not just because Sky seem to have an anti-BV bias. Their commentators and analysts seemed really cheesed off that the Aces had won and kept making excuses for Wolves, ie. injuries, no home track advantage due to the conditions, etc. We are well top of the table but only ONE BV home match has been shown live on Sky all season, yet their cameras were at Oxford twice in a week. Don't they like the journey to Manchester or something? It was also a delight to see the Wolves team manager Peter Adams look like he'd lost a fiver when we got the awarded 5-1 and at the end when he had to nominate the riders for the final race knowing the match was out of their grasp. Brilliant work by JC and Steady! Up the Aces!

Raj Patel, Wolverhampton (26/07/2005 at 16:15)

now i know why belle vue are top b" you take that awful manchester rain with you around the country.
even then only crump and stead wanted to ride, the rest of you lot were chicken.
we'll see who the really the top dogs are in the play-offs.
up the wolves

Simon, Gorton (26/07/2005 at 18:57)

I agree with what's been said about naming the Aces as the winners of the July sports personality of the month.

This time last year Perrin had all but killed this famous club. Now we're rejuvenated, a winning team, a perfect smooth track, growing crowds, great entertainment.......and what a July! marching to the top of the league and the semis of the cup.......If a team in any other sport had managed the kind of turnaround the Aces have, the MEN would be producing a 24 page full colour pull out!

Trevor Jones, Huddersfield (27/07/2005 at 09:01)

Superb win on monday, now we are in a Cup Semi Final on Wednesday and Thursday can the MEN really get behind us like they should be doing.

Proud to be an ACE

Sports Personality of the Month

Joe Screen by a mile, new dad and riding with new vigour

Chris, M/C (27/07/2005 at 13:09)

I'd say Simon Stead's brilliant July at reserve and especially his heroics on Monday mean he should be Sports Personality of July . . But really its been a whole team effort.

Hopefully we can keep up the good work and reach the KO Cup final too.

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