Dan Bewley Thrills Home Crowd With Epic British Speedway GP Victory

Dan Bewley delivered an unforgettable performance on Friday night, claiming a sensational victory at the ATPI FIM British Speedway GP in Manchester in front of a record-breaking home crowd.

Racing at his home track, the National Speedway Stadium, the 26-year-old Brit gave the passionate 5,500-strong audience exactly what they came for—his fifth career Speedway GP win, and a third British GP triumph to add to his 2022 and 2024 Cardiff victories.

The Belle Vue star, who has been racing at the venue since joining the club as a National Development League rider in 2016, battled his way into the final through a hard-fought last-chance qualifier. Once there, he pulled off a dream start and held his nerve to beat Poland’s Bartosz Zmarzlik, Belle Vue teammate Brady Kurtz, and Sweden’s Fredrik Lindgren to the chequered flag.

After the race, Bewley admitted he was fuelled by the electric atmosphere and desperate to deliver for the home crowd. “The whole day has been pretty cool, to be honest,” he said. “Obviously, we have had the Speedway of Nations here, but this is by far the biggest crowd we have had. The whole day has been pretty surreal.

“I just came here and treated it like any other meeting. I didn’t really want to change too much. I just used my British bikes – nothing was really different for me than when I come to a normal league meeting. I felt the same, but that feeling from the crowd was pretty different. I wish we had that every week.

“I didn’t really feel pressure or anything, but when you see so much support, you’re thinking, ‘I want to give you something back and I want to do you proud.’ It was so cool to see the fans. Everyone seemed like they were loving it. Thanks to everyone who has always had my back. Even when I had a couple of not-so-good races, the fans were non-stop chanting for me. They are pretty special.”

Having also won at Wroclaw and Sweden’s Målilla, Bewley now has GP wins in four different venues. But Manchester clearly meant more. “This one was cool,” he said. “I have raced here since I was in the National League in 2016. It’s quite cool to have gone from the bottom of professional racing to the very top. I think that’s also the best race I’ve had in the final to get the win. I didn’t just make the start; I had to work for it.”

The Brit will now look to make it a perfect double at round five, as the Manchester double-header wraps up on Saturday night. With Zmarzlik leading the series on 73 points, Kurtz sitting second on 64, and Bewley, Holder, and Lindgren tied on 54, it’s all to play for.

Despite missing out on the win, Zmarzlik was content with his second-place finish, especially after also picking up two bonus points from the earlier sprint race. “I am very happy because I am second and I also scored the points from the sprint race,” said the Polish superstar. “I had many questions about the track, setups and bikes before the meeting. But I felt so very nice during the meeting, and I took a lot of fun from the racing. The track was really fantastic for fighting and racing.”

He also offered praise to his rivals, saying, “Congrats to Dan for doing an amazing job in the final and also Brady. I think everyone did a good job for the fans. Of course, it’s a hard and busy weekend, but it is how it is. A double-header is okay because everyone else is in the same situation, so let’s go!”

For Aussie Brady Kurtz, third place was a welcome return to form following a big crash at the previous round in Prague. After two weeks of rest and recovery, the Belle Vue rider was pleased to lose only one point to Zmarzlik in the championship standings.

“I’m stoked with third,” Kurtz said. “The first two rounds went a little bit too well, you could say, and then Prague sucked. I felt I needed to get back amongst it to stay in the points. It was good all night. I had loads of speed and just missed out in the final.

“The crash in Prague hurt me. I really hit the ground hard, and I haven’t really felt like that after a crash and had nothing broken. I was not in a good way over the next few days.

“I wouldn’t say it was hard work to get here. I would say it was no work. I was trying not to do too much at all. I did a lot of physio and rehabilitation – anything I could to be as healthy as I could be come this weekend. I woke up this morning and thought I was right to go.

“Congratulations to Dan – he knows the track better than anyone and he showed it in the final. Hopefully another good performance in the heats would be nice on Saturday and I’ll try and do something special in the final.”

With the crowd roaring and the championship battle heating up, all eyes will be on Manchester once again tonight as round five gets underway.