BELLE VUE boss Mark Lemon said it had been “brutal” after his side roared into their THIRD Premiership Grand Final in four years at Sheffield.
The ATPI Aces went down by 50-40 at Owlerton last night (Thursday) but went through by two points on aggregate, 91-89.
That was despite losing key Australian Ben Cook after a horror crash in Heat 10. But they held on to secure another final thanks to flying Finn Antti Vuolas grabbing a huge second place in Heat 14.
It means how they face Leicester in the Grand Final first leg at the National Speedway Stadium on Monday night bidding to regain the league title they won in 2022. The decider is the Lions home base on Thursday.
Boss Mark Lemon said: “It’s taking a lot to sink in. It’s been a dogfight, there’s no doubt about that.
“When two sides like Sheffield and ourselves go to war, it’s brutal. It takes it out of you.
“I’m looking forward to the weekend and we’ve got to prepare now for Monday. It’s real short time.
“There’s a lot to look forward to now. You work for this all year and to get to the final is fantastic. But it means nothing if you don’t go on and win it.
“Sometimes you feel better to get knocked out at this stage, than not win it.
“The challenge is still there. The chapter is not written yet.
“With these boys we have a lot of depth and a lot of coverage.
“We came into the play-offs a bit underrated. I guess tonight proves otherwise.
“But we are now going to have to cover for Ben Cook, that’s going to be a tough one too.”
The ATPI Aces did an outstanding job of defending their 12-point lead in the early stages with early wins for Brady Kurtz, Dan Bewley, Antti Vuolas and Jaimon Lidsey.
But Sheffield finally got going in Heat 8 with a 5-1 from Dan Gilkes and Kyle Howarth over Jake Mulford.
Then came Cook’s dreadful incident on the second turn of Heat 10. After a long delay for the Aussie to get treatment, Tigers scored a vital 5-1 in the re-run.
However wins for Lidsey and Kurtz in Heats 12 and 13 steadied the Aces’ ship before Vuolas’ second place in the penultimate race wrapped it up for the visitors.
On his epic Heat 13 victory, Kurtz said: “I just wanted to get the win out the way so we didn’t have to do that again in Heat 15.
“It was a great result for us. We knew we could get the job done. I’m so glad that it’s over and we can look forward to the final now.
“Mostly though we are just wishing that Ben will be good and all the best to him.
“It’s a tough situation for everyone to be in really. No one wants to see your friend go off in the ambulance. All we can say is all the best to him.
“I just tried to do my job on the track. Looking forward to getting back to the National Speedway Stadium. It’s always a massive fan turnout.”
Words by Holeshot Media.
Images by Taylor Lanning.