BELLE Vue captain Jason Crump suffered an ankle injury in a heavy last-heat fall in last night's 44-49 defeat at Coventry.

The Australian star was on the ground for several minutes as he received attention following the fall.

It was the last thing he needed ahead of Saturday's Italian Grand Prix at Lonigo, when he is hoping to increase his stranglehold on the world championship.

Otherwise it was a brave performance by a depleted Aces' side to hold the champions to just five points ahead of next Monday's return at Belle Vue.

The Aces made a sensational start when Josef Franc beat Great Britain and Coventry captain Scott Nicholls. But the Bees were level after the next race when James Wright got a hard-earned second place behind Troy Batchelor.

It remained level when Kenneth Bjerre held off Chris Harris and then it was 12-12 after a fourth heat in which home star Rory Schlein beat Crump by inches.

Coventry eased into a two-point lead when Harris beat Simon Stead, and went 20-14 up when Nicholls saw off Crump.

And the Aces were in trouble when the home side took maximum points in the next to lead by eight.

Then Stead ripped past Billie Janniro on the first lap of heat eight for his first win of the night. But the home side were 10 ahead after taking a maximum from the 10th.

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