Belle Vue Aces 49, Oxford Silver Machine 41: Oxford Silver Machine's nightmare continued as they went down to the bottom club Belle Vue Aces in the Elite League on Monday.

Following the controversial postponement of Friday's clash with Wolverhampton and a heavy defeat at Eastbourne the following night, Oxford speedway fans were looking for some good news.

But there was none in Manchester, as the Aces were clearly up for the challenge.

Right from the very first heat, they took control with a maximum

An unusually sluggish Todd Wiltshire completely missed the start, and although he challenged Craig Watson after two laps, could not find a way through.

Belle Vue pulled eight points ahead after another maximum in the third heat over the out-of-form Craig Boyce and Sebastian Ulamek.

To their credit, Oxford fought back with two four-two heat advantages.

Jason Lyons looked very out of sorts in his first ride, and with him not at the races, it should have been a walk in the park for Oxford.

Wiltshire battled it out wheel-for-wheel with ex-Oxford skipper Steve Johnston in the fifth, with the retiring Aussie getting the better of his fellow country- man.

Two shared heats followed, which meant that Oxford were unable to make any tactical moves in heat eight, where the Aces secured their maximum heat of the night.

Oxford hit back again in heat nine as Todd Wiltshire came in as a tactical substitute, but the Boyce/Ulamek pairing undid that good work again in the next.

Wiltshire and Nicki Pedersen bought home the bacon in the 11th heat to leave Oxford just four behind going into the interval.

The next two heats were shared and it looked as though Oxford could pull something back in the penultimate race.

Belle Vue swapped reserves and brought in Ales Dryml who seems to have rediscovered the form that saw him so popular at Oxford.

He popped out of the start for his second win of the night and, with Jan Staechmann rooted to the back, the Aces were home and dry.

In the last, Wiltshire and Pedersen were racing to give Oxford a real chance of the bonus point.

But the impressive Crump and Johnston secured an eight-point win for the home side. Belle Vue: J Crump 15, A Dryml 10+1, S Johnston 8+1, C Watson 6+1, C Stonehewer 6, C Manchester 2+1, J Lyons 2.

Oxford: N Pedersen 14+1, T Wiltshire 9+1, C Boyce 5, S Ulamek 5, J Staechmann 3+2, N-K Iversen 3+1, T McGowan 2.