BEWLEY'S AMERICAN EYE-OPENER

Great Britain racer Dan Bewley admits it was “pretty eye-opening” to see the reaction he received in California when he faced the United States in a pre-season test match on February 1.

Bewley went unbeaten in his first three rides, scoring eight paid nine points as GB defeated the hosts 55-35 at Kevin Harvick's Kern Raceway in Bakersfield.

Since then, he has started the European season in fine form, scoring a 14 paid 15-point maximum as Belle Vue thumped King's Lynn 57-33 at Manchester's National Speedway Stadium on Monday.

The Americans have had plenty of Speedway GP success to celebrate in the series’ 30-year history, with four-time SGP world champion Greg Hancock and 1996 winner Billy Hamill both lifting the sport’s biggest prize since 1995. But supporters in the US have largely relied on watching their SGP heroes on TV or online in recent times.

Bewley was delighted to bring the action stateside, and he was elated with the welcome he received as he warms up for his 2025 Speedway GP title bid.

He said: “It was cool. It was just nice to go out there. I didn’t have the greatest of meetings or anything like that. It wasn’t my best day ever, but there were so many people who were fans of me or fans of the sport. They watch me in the GPs and stuff like that. So many people came up to me after the meeting.

“I didn’t do anything spectacular, but they still came over and said how cool it was to see me in person. It was pretty eye-opening, to be honest. It’s pretty far away, so it was interesting to see how many fans are actually there.

“I feel if it could be done right, speedway could be big there. It’s just getting it going. First of all, you need to grow the sport there. You need plenty of kids coming through and hopefully the cream rises to the top. The more kids you have, the easier it is to get some good ones.”

Bewley believes the passionate American fans would embrace more big speedway events taking place across the pond.

He said: “It’s just the American lifestyle when it comes to any event. Everyone is just so open to going to things. You could have a singer no-one has ever heard of, but if they’re playing, people will go and check it out.

“I feel like it would be the same thing with speedway. If you are in the right area with the right publicity and the right crowd, you could easily get people who have never heard of speedway to check it out, and I feel like they would support it.”

American circuits are often more than 100 metres shorter than their Polish counterparts, and the tight and technical Bakersfield track was a different test to the ones Bewley faces at Manchester’s National Speedway Stadium and Wroclaw’s Olympic Stadium, where he races his home league matches.

“It was a little bit smaller, but it was a pretty cool track,” the Cumbrian said. “It’s a nice shape and the track prep was pretty good. It was pretty smooth and nice. They work with what they have, but it’s a nice setup there.”