BELLE VUE ACES dealt themselves a winning hand against Edinburgh Scotwaste Monarchs in the first leg of their promotion/relegation battle in Manchester last night.
The Aces triumphed 59-32 which almost assures the continuation of their Elite League status next season.
But Aces team manager Chris Morton wasn't entirely satisfied with his team's display, saying: "I was actually looking for us to score 60 point
s just to make sure.
"Although Edinburgh ride in the Premier League we cannot take anything for granted, especially as a lot of our riders have never been to Armadale before."
The Belle Vue track wasn't in tip-top condition following a stock car meeting at the weekend and Monarchs boss John Campbell felt this had a bearing on the result.
"We didn't do ourselves justice because the track was a mess, it was almost impossible to get round.
"I'm just very disappointed that we didn't score a lot more points, everybody was put off by the track surface right from the start of the meeting. Belle Vue of course ride it every week and are aware of the problems caused by stock car meetings."
Campbell says the gap between the two divisions isn't as wide as many people think and predicted: "I think we'll beat this Belle Vue team in the second leg on Friday because unless we are flooded out, our track will be in far better shape.
"Promotion is out of the question for us now, it will be pride we are riding for and also to preserve our unbeaten home record for the season."
Former Belle Vue rider Ryan Fisher will want to forget his return to his old track as he only managed to score three points.
The Monarchs No.1 fell in his first ride when lying in second place and then made a hash in his next outing and finished last. He only redeemed himself partially by picking up two points in his third ride.
The Belle Vue fans gave Fisher a hard time when he raced for them three years ago and he said: "Belle Vue was the first track in the country to boo me because of all the machine problems I had and they obviously hadn't forgotten that last night! Belle Vue is not one of my favourite venues but I still would have liked to have scored a lot more."
Monarchs suffered three falls early on and this definitely unsettled them and virtually handed the match to their hosts on a plate.
Andrew Tully came to grief when trying to catch Patrik Hougaard and the Monarchs ace struggled thereafter.
But once again it was Kalle Katajisto who shone for the Monarchs from reserve.
Katajisto, despite not winning a race, rattled up ten points and combined with skipper Matthew Wethers for a 5-1 over Richard Sweetman and Josh Auty in heat 14, Monarchs' only success of the match.
Katajisto was unlucky to tumble off in heat four when he was comfortably ahead of Krzysztof Kasprzak.
"I was very frustrated to fall off because I thought I had a good chance of beating him," said Katajisto. "I knew I had to go out and attack the track and this is what I managed to do, but it was still a tricky circuit to master."
Campbell praised Katajisto's efforts, saying: "Kalle simply got stuck in and had no fears about the track that the others had, and he did his very best."
However, Katajisto's tail-end partner Aaron Summers was found wanting again. The young Australian scrambled just a couple of points and questions are now being openly asked about the reliability and performance of his machinery which hasn't looked up to scratch in recent weeks. Even Kevin Wolbert, who is the first Monarch to agree terms for next season, toiled and mustered only five points which did include a solitary race win.
But the German star may have a broken a finger after he fell off in the heat 15 top scorers' race when his clutch fell to bits.
Campbell added: "Kevin went to the hospital after the meeting to get things checked out and we hope everything is all right."
Kasprazak was the only Aces star to chalk up a full house of victories as he romped to a six-ride 18 point maximum and was well supported by Hougaard who rattled up 15 points.
Belle Vue: Kasprazak 18, Hougaard 15, Ostergaard 10, Wright 9, Auty 4, Sweetman 3.
Monarchs: Katajisto 10, Wethers 9, Wolbert 5, Fisher 3, Tully 3, Summers 2.
