Belle Vue hold all the aces as track record is broken

A six-meeting winning streak for the Peterborough Panthers came to a shuddering end at the East of England Arena on Monday as Belle Vue Aces romped to their second victory of the summer on the Showground track.

It was a most frustrating night for the city racers who shot into an early six-point lead in super-fast conditions, but couldn’t fight off a sustained challenge from a very impressive Aces side.

And the eventual 14-point margin of victory was enough to give the visitors a maximum four point haul and knock Panthers off the top of the Premiership. Indeed the city side dropped to third following Wolverhampton’s home win over Ipswich on the same night.

The Aces, liking for the conditions was shown early when brilliant British youngster Dan Bewley lowered the track record to 57.2 on a night when the old mark was threatened on several occasions.

Yet it had all started so well for Panthers with Hans Andersen and newly promoted number one Ulrich Ostergaard combining for a first-race 5-1, and with Scott Nicholls and Chris Harris heading up 4-2 successes, the Aces were quickly forced to use a tactical substitute.

Bewley duly won that race in his track record breaking

Heat 5, but Ostergaard got the better of him in Heat 6 as Panthers restored a six-point gap. From there, though, the Aces worked their way back with both Bjarne Pedersen and Harris making passing moves in Heats 7 and 8 against Steve Worrall to prevent 5-1s to the visitors.

There was no escape, though in Heat 10 when former Panthers man Charles Wright steamed under Andersen to link up with Worrall and put the Aces ahead for the first time.

The home side trailed by four points with four races to go and suffered a huge blow when Harris hit trouble off the start in Heat 12, meaning a brilliant ride from Michael Palm Toft was merely damage limitation.

And the Aces put a lock on the points with Bewley and Brady Kurtz charging clear in Heat 13 for another 5-1 to the visitors. They would have made three maximums to finish, but for a fine late burst

from Harris in the final Heat.

Panthers top scorer Chris Harris in action against Belle Vue.

Ulrich Ostergaard in front for Panthers against Belle Vue.