BELLE VUE captain Brady Kurtz admits his team need to find “something extra” to defend their league title.
The ATPI Aces ground out a narrow 48-42 win over Ipswich in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-offs semi-final, first leg at the National Speedway Stadium.
Kurtz’s side never managed to get the Witches on the back foot and now have a huge task to get through to the final on a circuit which they’ve struggled on in their three previous fixtures this season.
Kurtz said: “We would have liked a few more points, no doubt.
“But when it comes to the play-offs I think you can never expect to take a big lead. Every match is tough.
“You’ve got to step up and produce something home and away and this year will be no different.
“It doesn’t matter which team we were up against, we were going to have to find something at the away track. On Thursday that’s what we are going to have to do.
“Doyley (Jason) is good from the start when he wants to be. He got me into the first corner and it took me a couple of laps to get going. I didn’t have the legs to get him back.
“He’s always a tough competitor and he showed some good form.
“The boys know what to do on Thursday night and we know what’s expected to get the job done. We’ve just got to do the business. There’s no two ways around it.
“We’ve now got to produce something extra. We’ve had some good results there in the past and we have to do it again.”
Team boss Mark Lemon insists that he has belief in his side to get the job done in Suffolk.
He added: “It’s only half-time. We knew Ipswich were competitive. They’ve been top of the table all year long.
“It’s play-offs anything can happen. We’ve got to go there and do a job.
“We will need our best performance away from home all season.
“It’s the tank. The boys have definitely got what it takes. This team can do it.
“We didn’t get the lead we wanted but we can still go there and reach the Grand Final.
“We’ve been here before and it’s not unfamiliar to us. We are under no illusions, we need a big performance on Thursday.
“The boys are capable of it and I’m backing them and I’m sure the fans are too.”
Dan Bewley was outstanding by top scoring with 13 and also remains optimistic about the task ahead at Foxhall Heath.
Bewley said: “It was a decent night for me but we would have liked a few more points.
“I really like it at Ipswich. For me as a rider, going to places like Lynn, Ipswich, it’s like the peak of riding. That’s why you are in front. You just don’t want to be behind people.
“We are capable as a team to go to Ipswich and get the result. But we just have to do it.
“We’ve come this far, we’ve won before and we want to keep winning.”
Once again the unsung hero for the ATPI Aces was Zach Cook after he dropped just one point in, arguably, the best display for the home side.
He said: “I had plenty of speed tonight, it made it a lot easier, especially if I didn’t make the start.
“It would have been nice to have a bigger lead going into Thursday. We’ll put our best foot forward and see what we can do.
“They’re a solid team, one to seven, especially at home. It won’t be easy. All we can do is go there and give it 100 per cent.
“It’s been awesome. There’s not another track in England I enjoy coming to than this place. I’ve enjoyed every meeting here and it’s been a pleasure, hopefully there’s one more meeting to go.”
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFF, SEMI-FINAL, 1st LEG
BELLE VUE 48: Dan Bewley 13, Brady Kurtz 12, Zach Cook 11, Jaimon Lidsey 5+2, Norick Blodorn 3, Jake Mulford 2+1, Tate Zischke 2.
IPSWICH 42: Jason Doyle 11+1, Tom Brennan 7, Adam Ellis 6+2, Emil Sayfutdinov 6+1, Dan Thompson 5, Jason Edwards 4+2, Danny King 3+1.
Image by Ian Charles