MATCH REPORT: Aces have one hand on trophy after mud bath victory

The top of the table clash between the Aces and Stars went ahead despite the terrible weather conditions, full credit to all the riders involved they gave it their all to provide a great display of cycle speedway racing of top quality.

The meeting referee was top official Bob Prince, he kept the races flowing in the relentless rain, Heat 1 was a drawn heat with Lee Aris taking the win in front of the Stars Polish pairing of Zareba and Hanke with Domnik Rycharski having a massive wheel spin on the start gates in the wet conditions.

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Radek Handke and Ben Mould come to grief after touching on the third and fourth bend in awful conditions. Photo by Ray Andrews.

The next race saw the Aces Bobby McMillan and Paul Heard take a 7-3 against Andy Angel and Gavin Parr. Come heat 6 and the Aces were 10 points up after putting together three 6-4 wins and a drawn heat but the Stars reduced that lead to just 5 points by the interval heat 9 with Matt Smith recieving a race exclusion, leaving the interval score 47-42.

After the break the Aces restored their 10 point advantage with a 7-2 win from Whetton and Mould against Kyle Holland after Gavin Parr was excluded for movement at start line. Wednesfield then turned the screw and slammed in another 7-3  from Heard and McMillan and next a 7-2 from Aris and Rycharski against Angell with Gavin Parr not finishing after a very loud tyre blow-out.

Conditions got worse as the meeting went on. Photo by Ray Andrews.

Conditions got worse as the meeting went on. Photo by Ray Andrews.

The home team consolidated their score in the next few races, with another 7-3 in heat 15 puting the Aces in front by 25 points, but the visitors would not lay down and hit back with a flurry in the final 3 heats to make the score line look a bit more in keeping with the great racing that both teams had produced in difficult conditions. Final score: Aces 95 Stars 81.

WEDNESFIELD ACES 95
LEE ARIS 14, DOMINIK RYCHARSKI 8+1, BOBBY McMILLAN 14+2, PAUL HEARD 17+1, CHRIS JEWKES 10, BEN MOULD 12+1, MATT SMITH 4+1, RICKI JOHNSON 9, BRANDON WHETTON 6, LEE KEMP 1.

SHEFFIELD STARS 81
DAMIAN ZEREBA 15+2, RADEK HANKE 15+1, ANDY ANGELL 15, GAVIN PARR 5+1, MYKE GRIMES 12, MIKEY HEWITSON 11+1, ADAM WATSON 4, KYLE HOLLAND 4.

Elite League Combination

The rain did not stop and the div2 fixture went ahead with Sheffield useing several of their first team riders again giving 27 penalty points to the Aces, The Aces won the match comfortably the visitors riders having already given there all in the first team, Aces won 73+27 – Stars 57.

WEDNESFIELD ACES (73+27) 100
BRANDON WHETTON 16, HARRIE EVERISS 5, CARL PARFITT 8, LEE KEMP 16, CARL WINWOOD 8, HAYDN ROWLEY 11, MARK WINWOOD 9+3.

SHEFFIELD STARS 57
MYKE GRIMES 9+3, KYLE HOLLAND 13+1, ADAM WATSON 7+1, JOE TWIGG 10, ED MORTON 5, GAVIN PARR 13.