Issue 80 5th July 2015
Transcription
Issue 80 5th July 2015
5th July 2015 Issue 80 Aces ♣ News web: www.bellevueaces.co ♣ facebook: www.facebook.com/bellevuespeedway ♣ twitter: @TheAces Matej Zagar leads Dakota North & Maciej Janowski (IC) Aces foil the Pirates... Meeting Reports News & scores from the Aces win over Poole on pages 3 & 4. A Trio of Champions Next Meeting at Belle Vue The first 3 riders for the Grand Opening Meeting of the NSS have been announced, see page 6. Monday 6th July - 7-30pm 1 Aces v Lakeside Preview and teams on page 7. Cook - There’s No Pressure On Me British No.2 Craig Cook is relishing a return to the hallowed shale of Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium this weekend where he will don the coveted No.16 race jacket as the wildcard of the British GP. Although "gutted" not to have bagged his maiden national title in the British Final, a hard-earned second was more than enough to bring the 28-year old back to speedway's own theatre of dreams. Cook says he gained “valuable insights” from last year’s competition, when he scored just 2 points from five rides, and that he feels “no pressure whatsoever” ahead of the series’ flagship event. Craig Cook leads Freddie Lindgren at Cardiff last year (IC) He reflects: ”To be at the centre of 50,000 fans was an unbelievable feeling and it didn't hit me until we went out on parade that I was actually a part of it. I've never experienced anything like it before. "The meeting was as tough as I expected and in the end a bad night boiled down to inconsistent gating, but there was no rider in that field that I felt it was beyond me to beat. “One of the biggest changes I’ve made this year is bringing Ashley Holloway on board to tune my engines, which is new territory for me because nobody save for my dad has ever worked on them. “He’s built me a couple already this season but it wasn’t until the British Final a few weeks ago that I started using them in the UK because really they were build for overseas, for the bigger tracks. “But both are working phenomenally well in this country and as a result I’ve seen big improvements in both my scores and my performances, so it’s likely I’ll keep using them for the rest of the year. “I’m not going to lie, it would’ve been great to turn a wheel at the Millennium Stadium as the British Champion this year and I can’t believe I managed to fluff up the start in the re-run of that final race! “In hindsight I know it was rotten luck but that’s the way it goes sometimes.You win some and you lose some, and having the opportunity to star in the British GP is a fantastic consolation prize. "I’m not in the Cardiff pits simply to make up numbers, I’m there because I deserve to be and if I ride like I did at Wolves against the best in the world who’s to say a GP win is beyond me? “There’s always room for improvement but I'll be honest I feel like I took some major, positive steps forward in the British Final and that means more to me than winning the title ever could. "These days I actually feel like a proper rider! It's me riding the bike rather than holding on for dear life and as long as I can keep taking positive steps forward then the sky's the limit. "As far as I'm concerned there's no pressure on me whatsoever in Cardiff; in fact I feel confident! Normally, with it being such a big meeting, I'd expect a few nerves but don't feel rattled at all. "Every one of those sixteen riders is as human as I am and any one of us could win on the night, so I'm just going to go out there and enjoy myself and whatever will be, will be.” 2 Pirates Flounder In Aces Storm Josh Grajczonek & Stefan Nielsen on their way to a 5-1 (IC) Reigning Elite League champions Poole were sent back to Dorset last Monday with plenty to ponder on after being battered 49-44 by their Belle Vue counterparts at Kirkmanshulme Lane. After two rigorous matches against league leaders Coventry last week, the Rentruck Aces were prepared for an equally tough clash against the Readypower Pirates on their home turf. The visitors certainly didn’t disappoint in that respect and proceeded to cause all kinds of headaches for the hosts by swiping several heat advantages in the meeting’s early stages. Concern was mounting when the Belle Vue boys found themselves straying into dreaded tactical territory while the night was still young, with the Pirates seemingly sitting comfortable out in front. But team manager Mark Lemon was ecstatic to see his squad recover from what looked like an irreversible 10point deficit thanks to a crucial tactical ride from Matej Zagar and Scott Nicholls. He said: "Poole came here fancying their chances and they gave us plenty to think about early doors but as the gates came to us, the boys settled in and rattled off some pretty awesome results. "Obviously the pressures of the scoreboard was having an effect on everybody, some maybe more than others, and what you've got to be careful with in situations like that is heads dropping. "But there's a lot of resilience in this team and despite a couple of the guys having an off night we chipped away and 3 worked really hard behind the scenes, and in the end got a result we deserved. "Maintaining confidence in the pits is the key to recovering any points deficit and the boys responded very well to pull it together and turn things around as effectively as they did. "Being forced into tactical territory is something no club want to be faced with, especially on home turf, so when we found ourselves in that position in Heat 7 there was a little bit of concern. "That's not the time to start hitting the panic button though. We had a problem that needed to be dealt with and the boys knew the only way to solve it was to go out there and do their job. "In the circumstances I felt Matej was the best man for the task, even though he himself wasn't feeling too confident, but luckily for him he went out there with Scott and performed exceptionally. "You've got to remember that this is only our second home meeting in seven weeks which has been very frustrating for us because we haven't been able to hit the ground running at home. "In hindsight, that could bode well towards the end of the season so we've got to look at that as a positive, but it's true of any team that you build a lot of confidence on your own track. "It was a bit of a shaky start to our season but our campaign is starting to gain momentum these days and I think tonight we proved once again that this team is capable of making the play offs." Aces v Pirates Meeting Results: 29th June 2015 Heat 1: Watt, Zagar, Holder, Fricke 2-4 (2-4) Elite League Heat 2: Newman, Starke, Nielsen, Worrall(F) 1-5 (3-9) Belle Vue Aces 49 Heat 3: North, Janowski, Nicholls, Cook 1-5 (4-14) Poole Pirates 44 Heat 4: Grajczonek, Nielsen, Newman, Gomolski 5-1 (9-15) Belle Vue: Heat 5: Fricke, Watt, Starke, Worrall 3-3 (12-18) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Heat 6: Janowski, Holder, Cook, Grajczonek 1-5 (13-23) Heat 7: Zagar(T), Nicholls, North, Gomolski 8-1 (21-24) Heat 8: Grajczonek, Watt, Starke, Nielsen 3-3 (24-27) Heat 9: Worrall, Fricke, Newman, Gomolski(F) 5-1 (29-28) Matej Zagar 2 6^ 3 3 2 = 16 Max Fricke 0 3 2’ 1 = 6+1 Craig Cook 0 1 1 2’ = 4+1 Josh Grajczonek 3 0 3 3 1’ = 10+1 Scott Nicholls 1 2’ FX 1 = 4+1 Steve Worrall FX 0 3 1’ = 4+1 Stefan Nielsen 1 2’ 0 2 = 5+1 Heat 10: Holder, Watt, Cook, Nicholls(FX) 1-5 (30-33) Heat 11: Zagar, Janowski, Fricke, North 4-2 (34-35) Poole: Heat 12: Newman, Nielsen, Worrall, Starke 3-3 (37-38) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Heat 13: Zagar, Holder, Nicholls, Janowski 4-2 (41-40) Heat 14: Grajczonek, Cook, Newman, North 5-1 (46-41) Heat 15: Janowski, Zagar, Grajczonek, Holder(FX) 3-3 (49-44) Matej Zagar (CDS) 4 Chris Holder 1 2’ 3 2 FX = 8+1 Davey Watt 3 2 2 2’ = 9+1 Dakota North 3 1 0 0 = 4 Kacper Gomolski 0 0 F = 0 Maciej Janowski 2’ 3 2 0 3 = 10+1 Paul Starke 2’ 1’ 1’ 0 = 4+3 Kyle Newman 3 1 1 3 1 = 9 Behind the scenes of Aces v Poole Top left: Matej Zagar Max Fricke & Mark Lemon in discussion (CS) Top right: Mark Lemon puts the black & white helmet colour on Matej Zagar (CS) Above left: Josh Grajczonek (CS) Above: Aces Team Manager Mark Lemon a lot happier than Poole Manager Neil Middleditch (CS) Left: The Aces on the victory truck 5 (CS) NSS News A Trio of Champions. On March 19th next year, Manchester will play host to one of the biggest speedway events in recent memory as the National Speedway Stadium prepares to stage its grand opening meeting. Fans of the methanol sport nationwide have been enthralled with the progress on this state-of-the-art venue ever since the first sections of steel were installed on Kirkmanshulme Lane in May. The event will take on a guise very similar to that of a Speedway Grand Prix and feature sixteen of the world's finest riders. Early indications suggest that the meeting will be a complete sell-out. Nicki Pedersen (HB) Today the club were delighted to reveal the first confirmed trio of riders competing for the Peter Craven Memorial Trophy (PCMT), who between them have a combined total of five world titles. Three of those sensational SGP golds belong to Danish dynamo Nicki Pedersen, a veteran of the sport's international scene and who currently occupies second spot in this year's competition. The 38-year old has not competed on UK shores since 2011 when he starred for East of England outfit the Peterborough Panthers, and has been an extremely rare sight here ever since. He came heartbreakingly close to adding a fourth world championship to his tally in 2012 but lost out to Poole Pirates frontman Chris Holder after an intense, final confrontation in Torun. Chris Holder (HB) Holder, who hails from Sydney, has also given the Aussie seal of approval to an appearance along with the UK's Tai Woffinden, two of speedway's youngest ever former world champions. Ex-Wolves captain Woffinden became an instant national treasure when in 2013 he provided Britain with its first world speedway champion since Mark Loram thirteen years previously. In the same breath, the 24-year old made history as the youngest ever rider in the grand prix series to be crowned the World No.1, beating the previous record set by the ever-popular Holder. Aces chief David Gordon says the management team are "elated" to kick off the announcements with three global superstars and that fans can expect even more big names to join the programme. Tai Woffinden (Jarek Pabijan) He said: "When we initially approached the riders, their enthusiasm was fantastic and we couldn't be more thrilled to already have three world champions in the line-up for this event. "A grand prix-style format is what we've always envisaged for the stadium's grand opening meeting and even now we're in discussion with several other world class riders. "There's still a long way to go until March 2016, but the level of interest from riders worldwide in competing at this venue will guarantee us a brilliant night of speedway." 6 NEXT MEETING AT BELLE VUE Aces v Lakeside Monday 6th July at 7-30pm It’s a case of second time’s a charm for Belle Vue after their initial encounter with the Vortex Hammers fell foul of the weather in June, and was called off several hours before tapes up. Now the Rentruck Aces are keen to resume Matej Zagar leads against Lakeside last season (IC) their Elite League campaign after a week out of action by taking a maximum haul from Monday night’s clash and maintaining their place in the top four. Unfortunately for the Vortex Hammers, a staggered start to the season has been aggravated by the news that both Kim Nilsson and Ashley Birks have been sidelined due to significant injuries. As a result, Lakeside have opted to fully utilise the guest facility to patch up their squad and have recalled two of the Readypower Pirates to Kirkmanshulme Lane as substitutes for the evening. Aussie international Davey Watt steps in at No.5 to cover for the missing Swede while Paul Starke takes his place at No.7 in place of Birks, who suffered a dislocated shoulder at Glasgow last week. COO Chris Morton says he has always regarded under-strength clubs with extra caution and that despite the Hammers’s current situation in the standings, his team should not become complacent. He said: “Historically, Lakeside have always performed well at Belle Vue due to its similarity with Arena Essex and so on that basis their position in the league table becomes rather insignificant. “Things have really been picking up for them lately and as a result there’s a fresh element of confidence about them, so we shouldn’t be taking anything they present us with for granted. “We’ve had some very entertaining matches recently but from a management point of view, we can’t afford to continue to leave things until the last minute and take our matches down to the wire. “That’s something the lads fully understand though. They know what what they’re expected to do so hopefully they can stamp their authority on the meeting right from the gate in Heat 1.” TEAM LINE-UPS - MONDAY 6TH JULY Belle Vue ‘Rentruck’ Aces Matej Zagar; Max Fricke; Craig Cook; Josh Grajczonek; Scott Nicholls (C); Steve Worrall; Stefan Nielsen Lakeside ‘Vortex’ Hammers Andreas Jonsson(C); Mikkel Bech; Edward Kennett; Richard Lawson; Davey Watt (G); Adam Ellis; Paul Starke (G) 7 Aces News Extra Aces at Cardiff Belle Vue had two riders in the British Grand Prix at Cardiff last Saturday with Matej Zagar and Craig Cook taking part. Craig had won the wildcard into the event when he finished second to Tai Woffinden at last month’s British Final. Both Matej and Craig made the best possible start to the event when they won their opening rides, Matej went on to score 10 points and reached the semi-finals whilst Craig scored 7 points and missed out on a semi-final place by just one point. A great performance by both our riders! Matej Zagar leads Greg Hancock (IC) Craig Cook leads Chris Holder, Greg Hancock & Maciej Janowski (IC) Craig Cook celebrates winning heat 3 (IC) UPCOMING MEETINGS 6TH JULY 10TH JULY 13TH JULY 20TH JULY Aces v Lakeside Lakeside v Aces Aces v Leicester Aces v Kings Lynn at Belle Vue 7-30pm start. at Lakeside 8pm start. at Belle Vue 7-30pm start. at Belle Vue 7-30pm start. Elite League Meeting. Elite League Meeting. Elite League Meeting. Elite League Meeting. Please Note: Fixtures are correct at time of newsletter production, please check www.bellevueaces.co for any late changes 8
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