BEWLEY HEADS FOR BEN FUND BONANZA AS DOUBLE FIM SON WORLD CHAMPION
14/07/2024


Great Britain hero Dan Bewley was elated to find a way past Belle Vue teammate Brady Kurtz and Jack Holder as he broke Aussie hearts and snatched gold for his country in the FIM Speedway of Nations Final on Saturday.
The Cumbrian heads to his local track Workington (3pm start today) for the Ben Fund Bonanza – an annual event in aid of the Speedway Riders Benevolent Fund, a UK-based charity which supports riders temporarily or permanently sidelined by track crashes.
It will be his first event as a double FIM SON world champion after he blazed under the Australian duo to join Robert Lambert at the front as GB won the Grand Final 7-2, sending the National Speedway Stadium wild.
His Speedway GP rival Holder worked overtime to help Kurtz engineer an opening on the second lap, bringing both riders into second and third place, which would have been enough for the Roos to retain the FIM SON world title they won at Danish track Vojens in 2022.
But with Kurtz and Holder pushing wide on bend three, Bewley instantly cut back to rocket up the inside for second place and create more history in Manchester.
He said: “It’s always a tough one; especially with this points system, with four points for the win and you can’t finish last. I was behind Jack and it’s such a tough sport. Obviously, he wanted to slow me and help Brady out.
“I know Brady is quick around here and I put myself in a couple of bad spots, expecting Brady to come through. I went to the back, but I managed to get through.
“Credit to those boys for getting to the final. It was such a good night on the track with some great racing. It was awesome to get the win.”
Bewley ran two last places in his opening heats but admits a change of bike solved the problem as the first one turned into a bucking bronco.
“The first bike nearly flipped me three times in my second one,” he said. “I’ve never had that happen before. Once took me by surprise; I thought ‘surely not’ the second time, and then I was just thinking ‘what’s happening here?!’”
Today sees Bewley take on a stellar line-up in his native Cumbria to raise cash for the sport’s injured stars. He is joined in the line-up by fellow Speedway GP rider Jan Kvech, plus former British champions Craig Cook, Adam Ellis, Danny King and Charles Wright, as well as German international Norick Blodorn, who helped his country to fourth place last night – its best FIM Speedway world team result since 1997.
SRBF Chairman Paul Ackroyd hopes fans will flock to Northside – Britain’s newest racetrack for exciting afternoon.
He said: “Today’s event is a vital source of income for our charity, and the Ben Fund Bonanza has become one of the major events in the British Speedway calendar.
“This weekend is the only time when there is very little speedway here in the UK and Poland, so it made sense to tag on to the SON event in Manchester and offer travelling fans the opportunity of taking in both events.
“Sadly, we have recently seen injuries to Danny King who missed over a month of racing, but we are delighted to have him back today, and also others on the injured list include Jason Doyle, Rory Schlein and Tai Woffinden, and more recently Tate Zischke, who was due to appear today. Our thoughts and best wishes are with those riders.”