Wolves suffer defeat as bright start stalls
Wolverhampton found the league champions Belle Vue too hot to handle last night as they went down to a 57-33 defeat at a meeting in Manchester.
The Parrys International Wolves were doing a decent containing job in the early stages, but they conceded a damaging run of three 5-1s in four mid-meeting races and were unable to replicate the 45-45 draw they recorded at the same venue in May, when they just missed out in a Super Heat.
The track staff at the National Speedway Stadium did an excellent job after heavy rain earlier in the day, but there was little doubt that the place to be tended to be the inside.
Steve Worrall made a fast start in Heat 1 but quickly found himself shuffled out as Norick Blodorn took a surprise win for the Aces with skipper Sam Masters holding off Dan Bewley for second place.
Zach Cook, a maximum man against King’s Lynn last week, got off to a flyer in Heat 2 before Tom Brennan barged his way through at the end of the second lap, but Wolves enjoyed a big result in the next race.
Masters, taking the rider replacement outing for the injured Luke Becker, hit the front whilst Rory Schlein made a clever move on turn two to get the better of Charles Wright and Jaimon Lidsey and set up a 5-1 for the visitors.
Home skipper Brady Kurtz had to pass a quick-gating Leon Flint to win a shared Heat 4 whilst Ryan Douglas retrieved third place, but the home side turned things around in the next race when Lidsey and Wright left Worrall and Masters trailing.
They went four points up with a 4-2 in Heat 6 and maintained that advantage in the next thanks to a stunning ride by Kurtz, who reeled in and went around Worrall on the last lap.
Wolves suffered a huge setback in Heat 8 when Blodorn gated and raced clear, whilst home guest Jack Smith – guesting for the injured Jake Mulford – fended off everything that Flint and Worrall could throw at him.
Douglas gave Wolves only their second win of the meeting in Heat 9, but when key second-string Blodorn hit the front in the next race and Bewley surged inside Schlein on turn three, Wolves were facing an increasingly tough situation.
And the match was completely taken away from them in Heat 11 when Brennan powered inside Masters and Worrall on the first two turns, and survived a wild lift on the last bend, to partner Kurtz to another 5-1.
Boss Peter Adams gave Douglas a tactical substitute ride in Heat 12 but he and Schlein had no answer to Lidsey, although Masters did end Kurtz’s unbeaten run with a fine effort in the next which also saw him defeat Bewley.
But the Aces finished with two 5-1s as Bewley swept from fourth to second in Heat 15, leaving Wolves a mountain to climb for the aggregate point in next week’s return at Monmore.
BELLE VUE 57: Brady Kurtz 13+1, Dan Bewley 11+1, Norick Blodorn 9+1, Jaimon Lidsey 8, Charles Wright 7+2, Tom Brennan 7+2, Jack Smith 2+1.
WOLVERHAMPTON 33: Sam Masters 10, Ryan Douglas 8+1, Rory Schlein 6+3, Leon Flint 4, Steve Worrall 3, Zach Cook 2, Luke Becker r/r.
