Belle Vue never looked like repeating the fine away win they pulled off at Birmingham in June, despite a brilliant performance by Aussie Rory Schlein, writes Richard Frost.

He won four of his five races but received scant support, apart from Patrick Hougaard who recovered from a slow start to the meeting.

Skipper Chris Harris had another nightmare with a lack of speed, and six of his points came when he landed his only win of the night from a double points tactical ride in heat 11.

Jim Lynch, the Autogate Aces team manager, said: “Schlein was pretty much on his own, apart from Hougaard, but we needed Harris to be on top form.”

The Aces were in deep trouble at 21-9 down after five races and it took a brilliant ride by Schlein to close the gap a little in the next.

The man from Down Under pulling off a brilliant pass against fellow Aussie Darcy Ward to take double points in a tactical ride. Tweet