REPORT: Blow for Spires, as bonus point lost in Manchester

OXS Oxford Spires suffered a blow to their hopes of reaching the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-offs, when they lost 36-54 to Belle Vue at the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester last night (Monday).

The result saw Belle Vue win the aggregate bonus point by 91-89, despite Spires winning the corresponding meeting at Cowley last Thursday by 16 points.

For much of the meeting, Spires kept it close and victory on the night wasn’t out of the realms of possibility.

After two 4-2s to Aces, Charles Wright ruthlessly fought back under Ben Cook in Heat 3, as he joined Maciej Janowski for a 5-1 that levelled the scores at 9-9.

Spires kept it level after Chris Harris won Heat 4 – after winning a battle with Dan Bewley – and Rohan Tungate flew past Jaimon Lidsey to win Heat 5.

Belle Vue then moved six points ahead, before Luke Killeen prevented Aces extending their lead in Heat 8, when he moved inside Jake Mulford and created room for Erik Riss to move through the gap, as Spires salvaged a 3-3.

Harris and Wright won the next two races, with Wright inflicting the only defeat of the evening on Brady Kurtz in Heat 10, before Aces moved eight points ahead with a 4-2 in Heat 11.

Oxford team manager Peter Schroeck introduced Tungate as a tactical substitute in Heat 12, but Lidsey defeated him and Janowski in a 3-3.

That largely extinguished Spires’ hopes of a victory on the night, while Oxford’s aggregate lead was cut to four when Bewley won a battle for second place with Tungate, to join Kurtz for a 5-1 in Heat 13.

Aces took a 4-2 in Heat 14, with a valiant effort by Killeen in a battle for third place with Antti Vuolas just falling short.

There had been some enthralling racing during the evening, but nothing quite matched Heat 15 – even though it didn’t go the way that Spires wanted.

Janowski was the early leader, before Kurtz took over at the front. It was all change on the opening bends of lap two, with the result that Bewley moved to first, while Janowski and Tungate relegated Kurtz to fourth. But Kurtz was not to be denied and rode a wall of death around the outside to sweep past both Spires at the end of the second lap. Kurtz then got even closer to the fence on the fourth bend of the third lap and almost binned his bike, but he regained control as Aces snatched the bonus point with a 5-1.

While Spires remain four points ahead of Leicester in the league table, in the battle for the all-important fourth place, Lions have four matches in hand. What could work in Spires’ favour is that only one of Leicester’s matches in hand is at home.

Oxford team manager Peter Schroeck said: “It’s very deflating to come here with a 16-point lead and not take away the aggregate bonus point.

“We didn’t really lose it in Heat 13 or 15, you know what can happen in those races around here when Belle Vue have their big guns out. The last race was exciting to watch for the supporters, with the wall of death stuff from Brady Kurtz.

“We lost the bonus point in other races where we should have scored more. It could prove costly at the end of the season and need to make up for it elsewhere.

“There were positives tonight. Luke Killeen got stuck in on his debut for Spires and battled hard to a point and was close to scoring more. It’s not going to be long until he’s scoring more points at this level. I was happy with the performance of both reserves. But our team is built on a strong top five and one or two of the other boys need to step it up if Spires are to reach the play-offs.”

The next action at Oxford Stadium is on Wednesday (July 24), when the Monarch Oxford Cheetahs entertain the Berwick Bandits in the Cab Direct Championship. Tickets are already on sale at https://oxfordspeedway.club/tickets/

Belle Vue Aces 54: Brady Kurtz 13+1, Norick Blodorn 7+2, Jaimon Lidsey 6+1, Ben Cook 7+1, Dan Bewley 13+1, Antti Vuolas 6, Jake Mulford 2+1.

OXS Oxford Spires 36: Rohan Tungate 10, Erik Riss 2, Maciej Janowski 7+1, Charles Wright 7+1, Chris Harris 7, Ashton Boughen 2, Luke Killeen 1+1.

PHOTO: Action for Oxford v Belle Vue last Thursday (pic: Les Aubrey)