BELLE VUE’S Brady Kurtz doesn’t feel the club has a “target” on its back as defending Premiership champions.
The ATPI Aces cruised to a 58-32 win over Oxford at the National Speedway Stadium on Monday afternoon.
It was a solid display with Brady Kurtz and Dan Bewley producing full and paid maximums while Zach Cook delivered his best-ever display with 14 points.
Captain and No.1 Kurtz said: “Oxford have definitely got a really strong team and I’m not really sure where it goes wrong for them.
“It was a really good performance by the whole side. It was great to see Zach and Norick (Blodorn) go well.
“I was pleased with our win at Oxford as well. It was a good boost for us and it’s good we are moving forward.
“I always like the team we have at the start of every year. This one was definitely no different. We’ve got some improving to do.
“We don’t think we have a target on our backs as defending champions.
“We want to win again, that’s the only goal. We don’t want to come second or third, we just want to win. That’s what we are working towards.”
Jake Mulford was also excellent with paid seven and team boss Mark Lemon admits he is delighted with the winning ethic from all his riders.
He concluded: “I think our attitude comes with the expectation. Around 10 years ago we would have been delighted with a win away from home now and again and just happy to win at home.
“Winning two league titles over the past three years, our targets are different.
“The work ethos and culture we have created at the club means we are quite resilient to do the job.”
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2
BELLE VUE 58: Zach Cook 14, Dan Bewley 13+2, Brady Kurtz 12, Norick Blodorn 7+2, Jaimon Lidsey 5+1, Jake Mulford 4+3, Tate Zischke 3.
OXFORD 32: Peter Kildemand 12+2, Rohan Tungate 7, Erik Riss 6+2, Charles Wright 5, Maciej Janowski 2, Luke Killeen 0.