BRITISH FINAL SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 – BELLE VUE

• The Final with Dan Bewley (blue) getting the jump on Danny King (red), Craig Cook (white) and Tom Brennan

ISix of the best!

F the recent suggestions of the Speedway Grand Prix possibly coming to Manchester in the future turn into a reality, the new British Champion will surely be licking his lips at the prospect.

As the National Speedway Stadium paid its respects to the Royal Family, it was Dan Bewley who reigned supreme on the day, turning his tag of strong pre-meeting favourite into the winning of the national title for the first time.

whilst you’ll rarely see more effort from a rider than Kyle Howarth before he narrowly missed out on a place in the Final.

And on the other side of the coin for two of the more experienced riders, mechanical issues cost Chris Harris dear in his bid for a fourth title, and a dropped chain on the start-line of his fourth ride did serious damage to the hopes of Richard Lawson.

Harris was hit by carburettor trouble in Heat 1 as Steve Worrall stormed clear from the outside, and Lawson was also a from-the-gate winner in his opening outing, but the touchpaper for the contest was lit by Bewley in Heat 2 as he chased Howarth and dived through on the inside heading into turn three on the third lap.

in August, and an unpromising league visit to the NSS recently, but he was feeling far better after reeling in former winner Danny King in Heat 4 and making the move on the outside at the start of the last lap.

King responded with a win in his back-toback ride as Howarth went round Charles Wright for third place, whilst the distance of Bewley’s Heat 6 victory was an indication to the others that they simply had to get him caught in traffic in order to have a chance.

The action was behind the Cumbrian on that occasion with Flint rounding Scott Nicholls on lap one, whilst Harris got his meeting properly up and running with two points in Heat 7 as he made it inside Ellis but was unable to prevent Lawson from joining Bewley on six points.

Bewley has impressed almost everywhere he has raced this year, his Swedish GP struggles one night earlier proving a mere blip, and his old stomping ground of Belle Vue was always likely to find him back at the top of his game.

Defending champion Adam Ellis had endured a nightmare in the abandoned meeting

• Tom Brennan, Dan Bewley and Craig Cook

Brennan, meanwhile, put himself alongside King on five with a stunning switchback in Heat

It was a six-ride maximum that illustrated his genuine rise to world class status, and there was plenty thrown at him by his peers along the way in a meeting which provided another ample demonstration of what a fabulous speedway facility we have at the NSS.

There was hard, fair racing throughout, overtaking in virtually every race on a superbly prepared circuit, no fallers, and even the weather just about kept its side of the bargain despite threatening clouds and a passing light shower.

And whilst Bewley rightly took the main headlines, there were plenty of other stories to emerge on the day, such as the continued rapid development of Tom Brennan on his way to runners-up spot – and a welcome reminder from former champion Craig Cook that he’s still here and can still beat the best at this level on his day.

There were exciting cameos from two other Rising Stars Connor Mountain and Leon Flint,

September 24, 2022 speedway star 3