KURTZ RETAINS PETER CRAVEN MEMORIAL

Aussie champion Brady Kurtz was delighted to make the perfect start to his UK season by retaining the Peter Craven Memorial crown against a star-studded field in Manchester on Monday, March 17.

The Belle Vue captain topped the heat score chart on 13 points to cruise straight through to the six-rider final at the National Speedway Stadium.

He then saw off 2012 Speedway GP world champion Chris Holder in second and Belle Vue teammate and Speedway GP rival Dan Bewley in third. Former Speedway GP world champion Jason Doyle was fourth, with 2020 FIM Speedway Under-21 world champion Jaimon Lidsey fifth and returning SGP star Max Fricke placed sixth after retiring from the final.

Kurtz was delighted to come out on top against a stellar field and add to the Aussie Championship he lifted in January. He said: “I thought it was going to be tough at the start of the night because of the quality of the line-up.

“It’s nice just to start the season strong really. It doesn’t really feel like the start of the year because I’ve already been riding back home in Australia! Things are going well and I’m ready for the season. It’s the perfect start.

“I’m really happy with this and to retain this title. Everyone knows that I wanted this a year ago and to do it again is special to me.

“My team in the pits were unreal and hopefully we’ve got a big season to come. Hopefully it’s a good omen. It’s just nice to be on the bike. I would have been happy just to score some points and feel like I had speed but to win again, I’m super happy.”

QUALIFYING SCORES: Brady Kurtz 13, Dan Bewley 11, Jason Doyle 10, Jaimon Lidsey 9, Chris Holder 9, Max Fricke 9, Niels Kristian Iversen 8, Maciej Janowski 8, Robert Lambert 7, Fredrik Lindgren 7, Emil Sayfutdinov 7, Zach Cook 6, Chris Harris 6, Matej Zagar 6, Norick Blodorn 4, Tate Zischke 0.

SEMI-FINAL: Holder, Fricke, Lidsey, Iversen, Janowski.

FINAL: Kurtz, Holder, Bewley, Doyle, Lidsey, Fricke (ret).