Belle Vue captain Hans Andersen, missing for three matches because of the flight chaos, returns tonight determined to make up for lost time - and a disappointing start to his Grand Prix campaign.

The Dane was one of five riders to finish on eight points in the European Grand Prix in Leszno, Poland but only two went forward to the semis on countback and Andersen missed out.

Chris Morton, the Autogate Aces team boss, said: "I thought Hans was a victim of his draw number to some extent.

"He had some good races and was better than his eight points suggest. He was unlucky not to make the semi-finals and I know he will be disappointed.

"He can get it out of his system when we face Lakeside at Kirkmanshulme Lane tonight and I am looking forward to having a full team together again."

The Aces have been without their top two, Andersen and Peter Karlsson, for their last three Elite League matches because they couldn't fly in.

Morton is happy to have won two of them, at Coventry and at home to Ipswich, before losing at Swindon last Thursday when there were no top guest riders available.

He added: "It wasn't acceptable to go to Swindon with a depleted team but there was no option. Under the circumstances we had to be happy to have won two of the matches, including one away, but it was still very frustrating.

"At least the problems gave the other guys in the team a chance to shine."

Leigh Lanham gets the nod ahead of Ricky Ashworth to ride at No 7 against his former team in the match which starts at 7-30pm.

JASON Crump, who won the world title last year as a Belle Vue rider, won the European Grand Prix with 19 points from Pole Jaroslaw Hampel (18) and Russian Emil Sayfutdinov (14).

Tweet