SUPERIOR all-round strength took the Buildbase Bees to another home win, and to the top of their Craven Shield qualifying table in the process.
And whilst there is still a job to be done at Kirkmanshulme Lane next month, they are now favourites to qualify for the latter stages as they have an 18-point safety margin to protect in Manchester.
Belle Vue staged a mini-revival in the last five heats of Friday's Brandon clash to trim a 20-point Bees lead down to 15, but the home side could still be happy with their night's work as they were once again never in danger of losing on their own shale.
Inclement weather on the day of the match made track preparation difficult, but the circuit held up well and there was plenty of entertaining racing with a number of outside passes taking place - although typically Jason Crump showed his class by being the only man to make the inside work properly as well when he took a brilliant win in Heat 13!
Crump, however, had been completely upstaged in Heat 1 when he was outgated by both Rory Schlein and Olly Allen, and was unable to land a challenging blow on the Bees duo, his partner Billy Forsberg falling on the fourth bend but doing well to clear the track.
Aces reserve Steve Boxall put in a good ride in Heat 2 to go around Andreas Messing after a lap of hard chasing, and Michal Rajkowski's third place enabled the visitors to halve the gap.
But that was as good as it got for Belle Vue in the early stages because Chris Harris overhauled Charlie Gjedde on the first half-lap of Heat 3, Lukasz Jankowski falling on the first lap, and then visiting captain Joe Screen was on the receiving end of maximum points in Heat 4 from Simon Stead and a much faster Stanislaw Burza.
Heat 5 saw an excellent battle in the early stages with Harris gating well to take Crump wide and then just fend off the Australian's return challenge into turn three, although Janniro struggled mid-race and was unable to take advantage of a late error by Forsberg, who clipped the fence on the back straight.
Screen had an up and down evening, but he made a well-judged passing move to pick his way around Allen in Heat 6 for what turned out to be the impressive Coventry second-string's only defeat of the evening.
After Stead had taken his second win of the night in Heat 7 and Andreas Messing had just missed out to Jankowski in a rather unorthodox battle for third place, things went very wrong for the visitors in the next race when they lost Boxall with a shoulder injury. Allen had taken the lead with a fine move around the first two corners, but as Boxall tried to hit back next time around he fell awkwardly and could take no further part in the meeting.
Bees gated to a 5-1 over Forsberg in the re-run, and followed that up with two more maximums - both containing their fair share of passing. In Heat 9 it was Screen and Rajkowski who gated, but Screen was caught in mid-track and lost out to everyone else, and Janniro had to pass Rajkowski twice after going through but then looking the wrong way for his opponent first time around. Harris, meanwhile, gained ground rapidly, and came through to join his partner for a terrific 5-1.
There was more good action in Heat 10 with Allen hitting the front from the start but Schlein finding himself at the back, until he took advantage of Jankowski taking team-mate Gjedde wide on turn four to move inside the Dane. Jankowski's defence of second place never looked entirely convincing and Schlein eventually moved inside him on the third lap.
Not surprisingly, Crump donned the black and white helmet colour to take six points in Heat 11 as Stead acted as rear gunner to messing, and there was then a good first bend by Gjedde in Heat 12 which took him clear of Burza - and he was away for the win with Harris initially delayed by Rajkowski and beaten for the first time.
Crump was fantastic in Heat 13 as the initial battle appeared to be between Schlein and Screen, but as the Bees No.1 blocked his opponent's outside run, Crump held the inside line and emerged up the back straight in front, with the battle for third going down to the wire and Screen just holding off Stead.
Jankowski again made a good start in Heat 14 and managed to hold Janniro at bay for just over a lap before the American made it around the outside, with Messing a comfortable third, and the last race saw Harris and Crump wheel-to-wheel again early on, with Crump this time just taking the advantage into the third bend after being fractionally outgated. Gjedde, meanwhile, moved past Schlein into third place at the start of lap three.
Another convincing home performance, therefore, from the Buildbase Bees, who have Craven Shield qualification very much in their own hands, and can now prepare for a testing start to their Elite League campaign.
