Wednesfield Aces snatched victory by the smallest of margins against Black country rivals Sandwell Lions in front of a bumper crowd of spectators gathered at a sunny Ashmore Park race curcuit, and they were treated to a superb sporting display of top notch racing between these two evenly matched teams,

The Aces were kept in the hunt for the points in this match by the brillant work and heat wins at crucial times by there youngster's Dylan Radcliffe & Ben Higham against a lions team that had come out in the early stages snarling and looking hungry for the points,

Sandwell took full advantage in the first heat when the Aces skipper Chris Jewkes was excluded for a false start at the tapes and in the re-run Lions captain Lewis Bates did a great shielding job by holding the Aces Ben Higham back in 3rd place allowing his team partner Jamie Ball to take the race win 7-2 to the lions, the Aces came back in the next heat with a 6-4 reply, but then in heat 3 the lions really roared when their pairing of Errol Thaw & Lee Smith caught the Aces napping and returned a 7-3 heat win letting the home team now that they had a match on their hands,

Wednesfield hit back in heat five after a drawn heat with a crucial 7-3 from Dylan Radcliffe & Ben Higham pairing keeping the scorline close with Sandwell at this stage in the lead by three points and they increased their lead by five points in the next heat, both teams then consolidated a little in the next two drawn races,then as the interval was approaching the Aces team manager Roger Ellis used his joker switching the reserve and bringing in supersub Dylan Radcliffe to partner Mark Griffiths the outcome a 7-3 advantage to the Aces going in at half time one point down 44-45.

The second half of this meeting was nail biting for both sets of supporters as the lead chopped and changed several times and the win could have gone either way, heat ten was a drawn heat and then Sandwell extended their narrow lead with a 6-4 heat win from the Lee Smith & Thaw pairing to put them three points up again, then Wednesfield struck back in heat twelve to tame the lions with a brilliant 7-3 heat win from young Ben Higham & Jewkes pairing to put the Aces in front for the first time in the meeting by just one point 60-59,

Sandwell would not lay down and they came biting back with a 6-4 from Lewis Bates & Jamie Ball to put themselves back infront by a slender one point lead again 64-65, the next race was drawn but only after what was possibly the pass of the day by Aces Stuart Bentley on Errol Thaw to take the crucial 3rd spot, the Aces had Radcliffe & Aris coming out in heat 15 and the pairing had a superb gate and first corner relegating the Lions pair of David Ball & Lee Smith to the minor places and they made no mistake returning a 7-3 puting the Aces in front by three points 76-73 with three heats to go,

Supporters were on there toe's as the riders came to the tapes for the next race and the Aces rider Mark Griffiths produced his customary super fast start to get the better of Lewis Bates & Scott Millward but this time his team partner Higham was blocked out at the back resulting in a drawn heat and the Aces still holding their three points advantage, but that was soon to change in the penultimate heat when the lions came roaring back with a 6-4 heat win from Lee Smith & partner Jack Harrold to put the Lions just one point in arrears going into the final race,

With the Aces having former multi British Champion Lee Aris off grid one with partner Luke Draisey on three up against the Lions pair of Matt Smith & Errol Thaw Wednesfield knew all that was needed was for Aris to hold his grid one and win the race with Draisey just happy to finish and not get a exclusion and the league points would be in the bag for the Aces, and Aris did what was expected and took the race win 5-5 Aces winning by just a one point margin 90-89.

A superb cycle speedway match and great to watch.

LEE ARIS 18+1, DYLAN RADCLIFFE 16, MARK GRIFFITHS 14+1, BEN HIGHAM 13+1, CHRIS JEWKES 11+2, TERRY NORMAN 7+2, STUART BENTLEY 6+1, LUKE DRAISEY 5.

LEE SMITH 17, LEWIS BATES 16+2, MATT SMITH 16, SCOTT MILLWARD 10+1, JACK HARROLD 10, ERROL THAW 9+2, JAMIE BALL 7, DAVID BALL 4.

PREMIER COMBINATION

WEDNESFIELD ACES 78 SANDWELL LIONS 51

The Aces second team made no mistakes in takeing the combination league points in this match fielding a mixture of experiance & youth  and it certainly paid off with them taking heat win advantage in eight of the thirteen heats and four drawn races only allowing the visitors a last heat 7-3 consolation win, top scorer for the Aces was Matt Haddock 14+1 and top scorer for Sandwell was Ricky Johnson 15+1.

MATT HADDOCK 14+1, JORDON HOLDCROFT 13+2, TROY ALLEN 13, TOM HADDOCK 12+3, NICK PERRY 11+4, ROGER COX 10, STEVE MULLINDER 5+1

RICKY JOHNSON 15+1, PHIL HEMMINGS 7, STEVE BROOKES 7, LUKE BROOKES 6, JAMES CHATTIN 6, DAN FORBES 5, JOSH HILL 5.