BELLE Vue have called up reinforcements ahead of their big Bank Holiday Monday double against Sheffield, which gets underway at the National Speedway Stadium at midday.
The ATPI Aces and the Tigers meet twice in one day with five ROWE Motor Oil Premiership points available, as after facing off in Manchester they then head to Owlerton for the return at 7.30pm.
But whilst the South Yorkshire side have the luxury of lining up with a full-strength team, Aces boss Mark Lemon has been busy securing guests to provide his side with the best chance possible of success.
The broken femur suffered by Dan Bewley last week was a massive blow to both rider and club, whilst Peter Kildemand remains sidelined with a broken collarbone, and Norick Blodorn is also missing on Monday due to an FIM Grand Prix Qualifier in Abensberg.
Bewley’s place in the home meeting is taken by a very familiar face as Aces stalwart Jaimon Lidsey, who could not be accommodated in this season’s team due to the points limit, comes in to guest on his old home circuit.
Lidsey showed his pace around the NSS when riding for Northampton three weeks ago, and he then scored 12+1 for the Foxes in their home win over Leicester on Thursday.
Meanwhile in the away meeting at Sheffield, Danish star Niels-Kristian Iversen will take the guest duties for Bewley, having won three races for Northampton in his first UK appearance of the season last week.
Elsewhere in the team, the in-form Kye Thomson stands in for Blodorn in both meetings, whilst former Sheffield captain Kyle Howarth replaces Kildemand for the double header, and he clearly brings plenty of Owlerton track knowledge to the Aces’ pits.
The remaining four Belle Vue regulars will take their places as usual with Brady Kurtz having finished runner-up in the Czech Republic GP on Saturday, whilst reserve Will Cairns also enjoyed success in Prague with an excellent display in the Speedway of Nations 2 competition one night earlier.
Sheffield have experienced mixed fortunes this season and were disappointed to crash out of the Knockout Cup with home and away defeats to Leicester, and they also suffered a league loss at King’s Lynn.
However, the Tigers hit back with a 52-38 home win over champions Ipswich to secure their first Premiership points of the season.
Their top-end of Jack Holder, Josh Pickering and Chris Holder have all scored heavily in Manchester in the past, whilst at reserve they track former Aces rider Jye Etheridge and Rising Star Luke Killeen is due back from a concussion absence.
Lemon said: “We always knew we were going to be without two of our top five, but Dan’s injury has now made that three, and that obviously makes things all the more difficult.
“But we go into Monday with a 100 per cent record in the league and I’m expecting a really competitive, hard-fought day of racing.
“The first job is to make sure of a home win, and then it would be great to improve on our recent record at Sheffield in the evening.
“We welcome in our guest riders who have all been in good form, and we’re looking forward to the challenge that Sheffield will present us with.”
Hospitality at the NSS opens at 10.30am with main turnstiles opening at 11am, with the parade just before midday. Tickets and hospitality options are available from https://www.bellevue-speedway.com/tickets .
BELLE VUE: Brady Kurtz, Kye Thomson, Kyle Howarth, Zach Cook, Jaimon Lidsey (at BV)/Niels-Kristian Iversen (at Sheff), Tate Zischke, Will Cairns.
SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Anders Rowe, Chris Holder, Leon Flint, Josh Pickering, Jye Etheridge, Luke Killeen.