Wolverhampton Wolves take advantage in first leg of cup final

Well ahead in the first leg of the final, they were pegged back and eventually won 50-40, taking a useful but hardly overwhelming 10-point lead to Manchester for Wednesday's crunch second leg.

The home side, despite missing four of their top five riders, opened up a 16-point advantage after 11 races.

But in the closing heats, when they normally look to Freddie Lindgren and Jacob Thorssell to dominate the opposition big-hitters, they came up short as the injuries bit.

Belle Vue's top two of Kenneth Bjerre and Craig Cook were untroubled in the 13th and repeated the dose in the last – although Cook appeared perilously close to having both wheels on the centre green.

Earlier, the stand-in riders had proved welcome guests.

Former Wolf Ricky Wells and Swindon star Nick Morris had fine evenings as the black and gold closed their home season.

A last-bend pass by Morris had been a key factor in the Robins' Grand Final triumph at Monmore, so there was some consolation for the Wolves faithful when he repeated the trick in home colours to overhaul Steve Worrall in the tenth.

The Parrys International Wolves, denied four of their top five by injury, were given little hope in many quarters against the Aces.

But the guest selections proved shrewd, none more so than Kiwi-Californian Wells who was electric from the starts, assured in the turns and generally looked as if he had never been away from WV2.

Morris is a class act and Scott Nicholls, though now in the autumn of his speedway years, also chipped in with a vital win.

Belle Vue had problems of their own, with Max Fricke sidelined while Cook, Worrall and Jack Smith were all carrying knocks.

And they were left to rue a couple of second places which went begging when Cook twice – well, over-Cooked it with falls.

Wolves, boosted by excellent stuff at reserve from Mark Riss and Nathan Greaves, are still in with a shout and must now try to seal the deal at the National Speedway Stadium.