BELLE Vue overcame the early loss of Norick Blodorn to register a hard-fought 48-42 win over rivals Sheffield in their KO Cup opener at the National Speedway Stadium.
ATPI Aces were reduced to six riders as German racer Blodorn was forced to withdraw, but a sterling performance from Tate Zischke at reserve helped keep them ahead of the Tigers.
There were never more than four points between the sides until home duo Dan Bewley and Brady Kurtz collected a 4-2 in Heat 15 to seal the victory, with the visitors still having harboured hopes of a draw at that stage.
Blodorn was involved in a heavy crash in Heat 1, as he was brought down by Tigers No.1 Jack Holder on the exit of turn four when he was well placed for a 5-1 with Kurtz.
Although Holder was correctly disqualified, the incident was still a stroke of fortune for the visitors as Anders Rowe managed to split Kurtz and Blodorn in the re-run.
Zischke romped to an impressive win in Heat 2 with Will Cairns suffering mechanical trouble, but Chris Holder and Leon Flint struck a warning for the visitors with a 5-1 in Heat 3, squeezing out the early efforts of Peter Kildemand.
Aces, though, hit straight back with a super 5-1 of their own in Heat 4 as Zischke made the start and was shepherded all the way by Bewley, as the home pair shook off the challenge of Tigers captain Josh Pickering.
The next two races were shared in what was becoming a close contest, and Blodorn was an early retirement in Heat 6, very much feeling the effects of his crash.
Aces doubled their lead to four points with a 4-2 in Heat 7 as Bewley headed Chris Holder whilst Zischke moved inside Flint off turn two for the vital third place – but it was all level after Heat 8 with a Sheffield 5-1 from Rowe and Luke Killeen, inflicting Zischke’s first defeat of the meeting.
Once again a Tigers maximum was followed immediately by one for Belle Vue in Heat 9 as Zach Cook hit the front whilst Kildemand cleverly found a way inside Jye Etheridge off turn four to make it 29-25.
But Sheffield weren’t to be shaken off, and Kurtz had to come from the back against Chris Holder in Heat 10, by which time the fast-starting Flint had pulled enough of a gap to hold on for a notable win.
And in Heat 11 it was Bewley who found himself chasing as Zischke slid off on turn two, with the Aces man eventually splitting Jack Holder and Rowe on the third lap.
Tigers then looked set to level the match again when Etheridge led Heat 12, only for Kildemand to superbly swoop around the outside on the last lap to take the win.
There was drama before Heat 13 when Jack Holder suffered mechanical trouble and elected to touch the tapes to ensure the race could not start, and in the re-run his replacement Etheridge made a good getaway which was enough to delay Bewley and enable Pickering to split the Aces duo.
Heat 14 was a tense affair with Flint just holding off Cook’s challenge right down to the line, whilst Zischke rounded off a great night in third place to keep the Aces four ahead heading into the decider.
That meant Belle Vue just needed to avoid a Sheffield 5-1 in Heat 15, and the crucial move on turn one saw Kurtz clamp Jack Holder, enabling Bewley to sweep around the outside to seal the victory, whilst Pickering split the home duo on the first lap.
Aces manager Mark Lemon said: “It was a great performance tonight. It’s always tough to get the first meeting out of the way, you really just want to get a win and that’s what the boys did.
“It was quite gritty behind the scenes. Brady was under the weather, Will had a mechanical nightmare, and obviously Norick took that bang in his first race and had to pull out.
“That put some pressure on the boys but Tate stepped up and did a really good job, which we were really pleased to see.
“It’s a big season ahead. The first one is off to a good start, we’ve got to go to Sheffield on Thursday and that’s a new challenge there, but we’ll debrief after tonight and it’s a good start.”
The return fixture takes place at Owlerton on Thursday, whilst the ATPI Aces are back in home action against Leicester on Easter Monday (April 6) with a midday start.
BELLE VUE 48: Brady Kurtz 12, Dan Bewley 11+1, Tate Zischke 10+2, Peter Kildemand 7+1, Zach Cook 7+1, Norick Blodorn 1, Will Cairns 0.
SHEFFIELD 42: Leon Flint 8+1, Josh Pickering 7+1, Chris Holder 6+1, Jack Holder 6, Anders Rowe 6, Jye Etheridge 6, Luke Killeen 3+2.