SKIPPER Jason Crump inspired Belle Vue to a hard-fought victory at Kirkmanshulme Lane last night but it was new signing Tom P Madsen who went home the hero.
The Dane took a terrible fall in Heat 2 when he was brought down by team-mate Phil Morris, who was excluded, and hurled into the safety fence.
Madsen required attention for 10 minutes to a knee injury before being able to take his place in the re-run and he pulled out a great ride to split the Peterborough pair for two crucial points.
But Madsen reserved his best for last when he won Heat 12 for his first win since joining the Fonestyle UK Aces.
Simon Stead followed him home for maximum points, which gave the Aces a winning 40-32 lead and ensured the aggregate bonus point after last week's 46-44 away defeat.
Madsen, forced to refuse an extra ride in the next race because of the pain from his knee, said: "I suffered a similar injury at Sheffield last season and had the knee drained during the winter. I thought it was OK but now it has swollen up again and I'll need to have it looked at again.
"I was delighted and relieved to get my first race win for the Aces.
"The bike I've set up for the track just hasn't been working for me and I don't know why. But I jumped on to my spare, which isn't set up for Belle Vue and won the race. That's speedway."
Impressive
Promoter Ian Thomas said: "It was a brave performance by Tom and he showed what he can do when his bike works for him, despite the injury.
"I was delighted with the whole team because this wasn't an easy match against a side who had the benefit of a lot more recent racing, which should have made them sharper.
"Jason Crump remained unbeaten in three meetings this season and Stead was very impressive after finishing last in his first race when he spun on the first bend.
"I was also pleased for young James Wright who had his best meeting since coming into the side with six points."
Thomas reserved special praise for Joe Screen, who rode despite a broken collar bone and scored seven points.
He said: "Joe did a job for us, even though he was in pain."
Screen commented: "I went as well as I could have expected. I tried extra hard in the last race and I felt it and made a mistake to finish last.
"But I'm not making excuses. I just got passed by a better rider but my bike set-up wasn't quite right and I need to have it sorted out better next week."
Belle Vue's Morris and Wright have been drawn to ride in this month's British championship qualifier at Rye House. The top six from that match go forward to the British final at Belle Vue on Sunday, June 11.
BELLE VUE: J Crump 15, S Stead 9, J Screen 7, J Wright 6, K Bjerre 5, T Madsen 5, P Morris 3.
PETERBOROUGH: H Andersen 10, N Iversen 9, R Sullivan 6, U Ostergaard 6, J Jensen 5, R Hall 4, T Bajerski 0.
How do you rate the Aces this season? Have your say.
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GOOD COVERAGE BY THE MEN LONG MAY IT CONTINUE.
Bitterly cold night on Monday not helped by Peterborough's long delays when wanting to make a change. Just make the change, don't run down the 2 minutes. 4 times it happened I think. Great meeting though with some good racing. Crump was immaculate as always. Good night for James Wright, Simon Stead and Tom P Madsen. Great coverage, much needed in this very sporty city, from the M.E.N. Keep it up.
Solid peformance by the aces with positve and promising indications from some of the new signings. Crump was impressive as usual & screeny courageous as he rode through the pain barrier. Agree that P'boro's tactic for switching reserves was a complete pain on such a cold evening !
Agree with all the comments. Very pleasing contributions in this match from Steady, young James, and Tom P.
Good to see fans making comments here on the MEN site. We all read the MEN but I think we're often guilty of making all our comments on the Speedway websites and not showing our appreciation on the MEN site.
Would be good to see the MEN getting more involved in sponsoring Belle Vue. Even if its only sponsoring a junior second half or something.
Or how about the MEN getting involved in some marketing initiatives to help promote and market our great sport to a wider audience across Greater Manchester?
Pleased to see us managing good results when several things could have made us look embarrassed. Not least injuries and lack of racing.
Proud to see that the M.E.N. rightly gives excellent coverage to our sport. It has a heartwarming connection with the history of Manchester, including in the war years.
Belle Vue Aces have been in so many ways across the world the Manchester United of speedway.
Trust me take your families along to the speedway for clean exhilirating entertainment.
A great result in what was a tough match as we had riders struggling with injuries & various other problems but they all contributed to the win, with no weak links, which is the sign of a good team.
Good to see Joe return from a broken collarbone.
Jason Crump was as imperious as ever, long may it continue, especially in the next match at home to Coventry on Monday 10th.
I'll echo what has been said.
Great performances last week from Crump's maximum at the top end down to the great points scored by Wrighty and Tommy P at the bottom end.
We've got a great team spirit throughout the club at the moment as illustrated by Joe Screen's desperation to comeback early from a broken collarbone.
Tony Mole and Ian Thomas are moving the club forward brilliantly from the dark days of ex-promoter J**n P****n.
Time for the MEN to jump on board big style and become official media partners to the club. There's lots of promotion that could be done.
Another good performance from the aces and another good article by the M.E.N.
Lets hope we can go on and get revenge over Coventry after last years disappointment in the final.