Historic win for Bewley

Belle Vue’s Dan Bewley made history on Saturday night as he became the first British rider to win the World Championship British Grand Prix for a second time at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

The Aces’ star followed up on his 2022 victory to win his home Grand Prix at the 75,000-capacity stadium for the second time in three years.

And in a historic double, he was joined on the rostrum by Robert Lambert to give the ecstatic home crowd a first-ever British 1-2 finish.

Birmingham’s Swedish No.1 Freddie Lindgren finished third, with Polish star Dominik Kubera finishing fourth.

In one of the most closely-fought Grands Prix of all time, both Bewley and Lambert had to rely on the countback system to take their place in the semi-final races after both had finished on 9 points, with no rider managing more than 11 points from their 5 qualifying races.

Bewley had made the perfect start taking back-to-back wins in heats 4 and 5, to lead the way after 2 rides apiece, but he was beaten by eventual podium finishers Lambert and Lindgren in his third outing.

A second place next time out, saw the Belle Vue man share the joint lead with Lambert and Jack Holder going into the final round of qualifying races, but last places for both Brits, meant they could not add to their 9-point tally, while Aussie Holder and Dane Mikkel Michelsen headed the qualifiers into the semi-finals on 11 points.

A shock elimination came for reigning world champion, and current series leader, Bartosz Zmarzlik, who could muster only 7 points, failing to reach a G.P. semi-final for the first time since the Czech G.P. of 2019.

With Lingren, Kubera and Latvian Anzejs Ledebevs, on 10 points, there was a delay as officials frantically checked which of the four 9-point finishers – Bewley, Lambert, Martin Vaculik and Maciej Janowski – were to miss out on a semi-final place on countback.

Eventually Janowski was deemed the unlucky man, with Michelsen, Lingren, Vaculik and Lambert going forward to make up the first semi-final. Holder, Lebedevs, Kubera and Bewley went into semi-final 2.

But from here it was the Brits time to shine. Lindgren hit the front in semi-final 1, but Lambert chased him all the way, finally surging under the Swede off the last bend to take the win, as both progressed through to the final.

Bewley made his best gate of the night to lead the second semi-final all the way, with Kubera following him home and into the Grand Final.

And it was another tapes-to-flag win for the Belle Vue man in the final, as he rocketed from the start to hang on for a long four laps and claim his fourth career Grand Prix win, and his second at Cardiff.

Afterwards Bewley said: “What a weekend! It was a bit touch-and-go even making it to the semi-final on countback, but what a night! It’s been an awesome weekend, with so many people here. I’ve seen so many people here in my shirts, I just can’t thank them enough for the support”.

Belle Vue face a busy week as they complete their regular league programne, ahead of the Premiership play-offs, with four matches in 7 days.

The Aces travel to Ipswich tonight (Thursday) and have a Bank Holiday double against arch-rivals Sheffield on Monday.

The Aces take on their Yorkshire rivals at Belle Vue’s National Speedway Stadium at 12pm on Monday, before making the trip over the Pennines for the return fixture at Owlerton in the evening.

They complete their league fixtures with another away trip to King’s Lynn next Wednesday.

The play-offs for the league title are almost certain to be contested by Belle Vue, Sheffield, Ipswich and Leicester, but the outcome of this week’s matches will determine the semi-final opponents, with the league leaders facing the fourth-placed team, and second meeting up against third.