‘Embarrassing’ night for Northampton Foxes as they suffer heavy Aces defeat
Team manager Chris Adams branded Northampton Foxes' 57-33 hammering at ROWE Motor Oil Premiership leaders Belle Vue Aces on Monday night as being 'a little embarrassing'.
The newly-formed Foxes have been competitive in virtually all of their previous fixtures so far this season, and only last week pushed the Aces to the final race of the meeting at Brafield before being narrowly beaten.
But they were outclassed by the runaway leaders at the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester on Monday, and they now sit seven points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership table - while Belle Vue have gone seven points clear,
It was a night to forget for the Foxes - although Jaimon Lidsey did claim three race wins on the night and Nicolai Klindt a couple - and Adams wasn't going to sugar coat anything.
“We were struggling all night really to be fair," he said. “It was a little bit embarrassing to be honest.
“We know we’re a better team than that and so far our results have been okay.
“We’ve just got to put this one to bed and go again.”
The hosts got off to a blistering start in the north west - and the Foxes found themselves trailing 27-9 after just six heats with Niels-Kristian Iversen their only early race winner.
Belle Vue have won all of their league fixtures at their home this season and were once again in ruthless mood.
They extended their lead to 20 points by the time Northampton captain Nicolai Klindt won Heat 9.
The hosts then registered another 5-1 to move 42-18 ahead before a couple of the Foxes found some better form in the second half.
Former Belle Vue heat-leader Lidsey won successive races before Klindt added a second of the night on borrowed equipment from Iversen following a snapped frame.
The hosts did hit one more 5-1 in Heat 14 before Lidsey claimed a third race win of the night in the finale whiskey Klindt was passed by in-form home man Zach Cook.
Next up are two home matches for the Foxes, both on Monday nights.
The first one sees them entertain second-from-bottom Sheffield on July 20, before a week later King's Lynn are the visitors to Brafield.
Both meetings start at 7.30pm.
Belle Vue Aces 57: Zach Cook 13+2, Brady Kurtz 12, Ben Cook 10+1, Will Cairns 9+2, Norick Blodorn 8+4, Tate Zischke 5+1, Jason Doyle R/R
Northamptoin Foxes 33: Jaimon Lidsey 11, Nicolai Klindt 8, Niels-Kristian Iversen 7, Troy Batchelor 3, Luke Harrison 2, Matej Zagar 1+1, Kye Thomson 1.