BELLE VUE found themselves in the middle of a chain reaction while making a winning start to their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership defence.
British Champion Dan Bewley crossed the line just two-hundredths of a second ahead of Chris Harris to clinch a 46-44 victory at King’s Lynn on Monday night.
The Stars were left rueing three cruel breakdowns as they failed to back up home and away KO Cup victories over Oxford.
It first struck in heat two when a broken chain saw Ashton Boughen fall at the start of the final lap when seemingly set for a 5-1 with Harris.
Two heats later the same fate befell Richard Lawson, tumbling due to a detached chain after he and Harris had comfortably kept Bewley at bay until the last bend of the race.
And Stars’ bad luck didn’t end there as an out-of-sorts Bewley gleefully grabbed third place when Ben Cook ground to a halt in heat six with the Stars set to halve Belle Vue’s four-point lead.
That was finally clawed back in the following heat with Lawson and Harris – enjoying another productive night at reserve – taking the flag,
Jan Kvech nosed them in front by winning nine with skipper Niels Kristain Iversen holding onto the vital third place.
Brady Kurtz became the first rider to beat Harris around the AFA in 2025 with his own third race win in 11 and made it four-from-four as the Aces levelled the scores again in 13.
Zach Cook shot from the gate to surprisingly win heat 14 setting up the dramatic last heat decider.
Bewley, who had struggled from the start all night, made a good one but Harris held a clever inside line to take the lead, and when Nikolai Klindt slotted into third place it looked like Lynn would edge the win only for Kurtz to secure third place and leave the destiny of the points in the hands of Harris and Bewley.
Stars team manager Rob Lyon joked: “I asked (Belle Vue team manager) Mark Lemon if he’d put a curse on us.
“Being on two 5-1s and seeing them turned into 3-3s was frustrating, and the difference between us winning and losing.
“But that’s speedway. The bottom line is we deserved to win hands down but didn’t.
“We have proved tonight that we’re more than capable of competing with teams that set-up with big hitters so, while disappointed, we move on.”
King’s Lynn: Chris Harris 14+3, Nicolai Klindt 10, Jan Kvech 8+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 6+1, Richard Lawson 4+1, Ben Cook 2, Ashton Boughen 0.
Belle Vue: Brady Kurtz 13, Dan Bewley 10, Jaimon Lidsey 9, Norick Blodorn 4+1, Zach Cook 4+1, Jake Mulford 3+3, Tate Zischke 3+1.
Words by George Dodds.
Images by Taylor Lanning.