BRITAIN CHASES SPEEDWAY OF NATIONS GOLD

Great Britain team managers Simon Stead and Oliver Allen believe their 2021 world-title heroes are even better three years on as Robert Lambert, Dan Bewley and Tom Brennan return to Manchester for the FIM Speedway of Nations Final on Saturday.

All seven countries have named their starting line-ups for the ultimate test of team riding, with GB taking on Sweden, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Australia and Latvia in the battle to become FIM Speedway world team champions for 2024.

The six Semi-Final qualifiers all name unchanged starting line-ups, apart from Poland, who draft in former world No.2 Patryk Dudek at No.3 in place of former Speedway GP star Maciej Janowski.

The Brits are seeded straight through to the Final as host nation and Stead and Allen keep faith with three of the riders who ended the country’s 32-year wait for a world team title with victory in the 2021 FIM SON Final at Manchester’s National Speedway Stadium.

Captain Lambert is partnered by Belle Vue Aces hero Bewley on his home track in Manchester, with FIM Speedway GP of Great Britain – Cardiff wild card Brennan joining them as the reserve at No.3.

Since GB’s FIM SON win three years ago, Lambert and Bewley have become full-time members of the FIM Speedway Grand Prix series, alongside triple Speedway GP world champion Tai Woffinden, who also starred in 2021, but misses this year’s Final due to injury – as he did on day two of the title decider after crashing out on day one three seasons ago.

Following their gold-medal win in Manchester, the Lions have won FIM SON silver at Danish track Vojens in 2022 and Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup silver in Polish city Wroclaw last year. While they fell just short of gold in both tournaments, Stead believes his side is a much stronger force than they were three years ago.