It wasn’t the best of nights for Swedish Grand Prix winner Dan Bewley back riding for Belle Vue on Monday, but the result was the important thing.
The Maryport racer only picked up nine points and a bonus but ended up on the track, brought down by the excluded Jason Doyle and then suffered mechanical problems when leading the last heat.
Bewley said: “This was a brilliant result for the boys. I threw a few points away, but I think the secret to the strength of this team is the fact that we can compensate for those who have an off night.
“Ipswich put up a good fight, maybe even more than we were expecting initially, but they are a good team on paper, and they were out to prove a point tonight, so we had to work very hard.
“There were a few close calls and some controversial decisions, but we overcame all of the challenges on the night, and it was real team effort from everyone to win.”
Charles Wright, like Bewley an ex-Comet, had a brilliant win in heat 14 but was then very harshly excluded for moving at the tapes in the last. He scored eight points in the 49-41 win.
Current Comets number one Connor Bailey is riding at reserve for the Aces and fresh from his triumph in the British Under-21’s final, only managed one point from his three rides.
Ipswich stand-in boss Chris Louis said: “I felt for the lads a bit because they hung in until Heat 12 and then it got away from us a little bit.
“We looked like we were bringing it back in Heat 13 with Jason and Emil, but the decision went against Jason. To be fair it was the decision I expected from the ref, that isn’t me saying it was the right decision, I thought Dan went down a bit softly and I feel Jason’s frustration.
“We have seen it so many times the other way round and he keeps getting excluded when he is taken off. I fully understand and appreciate why he was so frustrated after that.”
