DAN BEWLEY RETAINS BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP

Speedway GP star Dan Bewley retained his British Championship as runner-up Steve Worrall secured a dream ticket to the Principality Stadium as FIM Speedway GP of Great Britain Cardiff wild card on September 2.

Bewley defied a rain-soaked track in Manchester to make it back-to-back British titles as he won the final ahead of Worrall and Ben Barker, with Richard Lawson disqualified after crashing on the third lap of the race.

With Bewley already guaranteed a spot in Cardiff as a full-time Speedway GP star, the wild card for Britain’s biggest indoor motor sport event passes to Worrall, who races for Wolverhampton in the Sports Insure Premiership, Poole in the Cab Direct Championship and Latvian club Daugavpils in the Polish Second Division.

Worrall finished second in the 2017 British Final, just missing out on the Cardiff wild card that year. His progress in the sport was then hampered by a broken leg suffered in 2018.

But he’s well and truly back among British speedway’s front runners as he joins 2022 Cardiff winner Bewley, triple Speedway GP World Champion Tai Woffinden and former European Champion Robert Lambert in the Welsh capital.

As he prepares for his Speedway GP debut, an elated Worrall said: 

It’s a dream come true. I’m not the British champion, but I’ve got second place and trip to Cardiff, so I can’t complain.”

Worrall served as a track reserve in the 2016 event, hoping for a ride if one of the main 16 riders were excluded for a starting offence or were forced out of a race for another reason. “I didn’t get a go,” he said. “But I am looking forward to it and my family will get to enjoy it with me, too.”

Bewley was delighted to become a double British Champion on his Sports Insure Premiership home track, but admits he was unsure whether or not the trophy was his after seeing the red stop lights when Lawson crashed. He said: “I didn’t know whether to expect a re-run or not. I was heading back into the pits to get ready for it. 

“I had to do some work in the first corner and I felt a bit loose. But I stayed on and what a result. I knew whoever got to that berm of dirt first would be away. I just wanted to get there as soon as I could and put some yards on the other boys.”

Bewley, Woffinden, Lambert and wild card Worrall will compete at the Principality Stadium in what promises an epic night of racing on September 2.