Stars go down fighting at Belle Vue

King’s Lynn provided an early shock for title hopefuls Belle Vue before going down to a 53-37 defeat in Manchester on Monday.The PSH Environmental Stars raced into a 9-3 lead after two races to force Aces into immediate action, and the final margin was not reflective of an entertaining meeting.With three races remaining the Stars were just six points down, but Belle Vue finished strongly with two 5-1s and a 4-2 to extend their advantage.Skipper Niels-Kristian Iversen again showed a liking for the National Speedway Stadium as he hit double figures with 11, as did guest Chris Harris who as ever gave his absolute all to the cause.There was also another impressive performance from Rising Star reserve Anders Rowe, who was involved in both of Lynn’s 5-1s including a great effort in Heat 2 to pass both Jake Mulford and Antti Vuolas and team up with Lewis Kerr.That was followed by a win for Harris in Heat 1 with Jan Kvech keeping Dan Bewley at the back, but it didn’t take long for the Aces to get into their stride.The home side recorded a hat-trick of 4-2s with wins for Ben Cook, Brady Kurtz and Jaimon Lidsey, whilst Ben Cook passed Kvech for third in Heat 5 to level the scores. Belle Vue then hit the front for the first time as Bewley joined Norick Blodorn up front for a 5-1 in Heat 6, and with Kurtz ahead in the next race, Vuolas added third place to put the Aces six points up. Stars struck back in Heat 8 which was one of the races of the night as Harris pulled off a great move to go from third to first, whilst Rowe wouldn’t give in and snatched second place from Blodorn on the line.That cut the gap back to two points, but Belle Vue quickly rebuilt their advantage with maximum points from Cook and Lidsey in Heat 9 followed by a 4-2 in Heat 10 with Iversen getting the better of Blodorn in a fierce scrap for second place.Stars pulled two points back in Heat 12 with Iversen and Harris gating on a 5-1 only for Lidsey to split them on the outside, but at 39-33 it had been a very decent away display. Unfortunately, Lynn took some damage in the last three races as the combination of Kurtz and Bewley raced to a 5-1 in Heat 13, and that was followed up by Cook and Vuolas in the next despite the efforts of Rowe.At least the Stars were able to prevent the Aces from finishing with a hat-trick as Iversen denied Kurtz a paid maximum in Heat 15 with a great effort to make it through on the inside. Manager Rob Lyon said: “I think the boys put a good shift in tonight. We fell away in the last couple of heats, so the score probably doesn’t reflect the effort they put in.“At the end of the day it’s difficult to beat these guys on this track, their top four are immense around here and they deserved the win. “We were good value, and it was only in the last couple of heats that we fell away. I’m proud of them, they rode well as a team – and you never know, we might get the aggregate point at King’s Lynn!Lynn continue their current away tour by visiting Oxford on Thursday, and they are then at basement club Birmingham next Monday.Belle Vue 53: Brady Kurtz 12+1, Dan Bewley 12, Ben Cook 10, Jaimon Lidsey 8+1, Norick Blodorn 6+1, Antti Vuolas 4+1, Jake Mulford 1.King’s Lynn 37: Niels-Kristian Iversen 11, Chris Harris 11, Anders Rowe 7+2, Jan Kvech 3+1, Lewis Kerr 3, Charles Wright 2, Patryk Wojdylo 0.