BELLE Vue favourite Dan Bewley raced to his second Peter Craven Memorial title in a spectacular season opener at the National Speedway Stadium.
Bewley came out on top in a thrilling six-rider Final which saw him get the better of the previously unbeaten Chris Holder with a terrific inside passing move at the end of the second lap.
Holder, looking back to his very best, had gone through the card unbeaten in the qualifying stages, and he appeared in control of the Final after hitting the front heading into the third turn, following a tough start between himself, Bewley and Jason Doyle.
But Bewley regained momentum and surged back through later in the race, meaning Holder had to settle for second place, whilst ATPI Aces skipper Brady Kurtz worked his way into third ahead of Doyle, Max Fricke and Adam Ellis.
As ever, the NSS circuit served up some thrilling action as well as showing its ability to withstand adverse weather, with persistent afternoon rain moving away around two hours before the start.
Racing got better and better throughout the meeting as conditions dried out, with plenty of strong and competitive action to whet the appetite for the season ahead.
Holder dominated the early stages with some electric starting, which proved valuable in Heat 8 as he got clear of a fierce battle for second place between Doyle, Bewley and Rasmus Jensen.
Bewley and Kurtz trailed Holder by a point after two rides each, but Bewley lost out to Tom Brennan in Heat 10 when the former Belle Vue rider made it around the outside into turn three, whilst the clash between Holder and Kurtz in Heat 12 saw Tate Zischke make the start before Holder took control, and Kurtz had to wait until the last bend to snatch a point from Zischke.
Bewley turned on the style in Heat 13 by going inside Fricke and Chris Harris on successive laps, but Holder maintained his unbeaten run in Heat 16 with a brutal pass on Ellis at the end of lap one.
That meant Holder and Doyle were into the Final with one round of races to go, and Bewley was effectively there too barring a retirement in Heat 19.
But there was a huge scrap for places in the semi-final with four riders on seven points and three on six, meaning some would be disappointed.
Kurtz produced a brilliant first lap blast from last to first in Heat 17 to book his place, and Fricke did more than enough by flying past Ellis off turn four in Heat 18.
Bewley charged on as he came through the field in Heat 19, showing no mercy to Jan Kvech on the back straight with the Czech racer doing well to recover for second place.
The remaining spots in the top eight were decided in a frantic Heat 20 with Holder first of all overcoming Harris to complete his 15-point maximum, before Harris and Brennan had a tremendous scrap for second place with Harris just holding on in a photo finish – and that meant Brennan and Zach Cook were left just outside the cut-off line, the latter despite some trademark inside passing moves off turn four.
Kurtz and Fricke were at the front in the semi-final but there was little between them for a couple of laps, with choice of gate positions for the Final also in their minds, and it was Ellis who emerged as the last qualifier with third place over Kvech and Harris.
The inside starters were away first in the Final, with Holder initially squeezed out by Bewley and Doyle, only to still make it to the front on the first lap – but just as it looked like the Sheffield man could complete a perfect night, Bewley reeled him in and took advantage of the smallest opportunity to move through on the inside at the end of lap two, leaving Holder and Kurtz to complete the podium places.
Celebrating his first victory in the event since 2021, Bewley said: “It’s been a few years, and this is a pretty historic meeting.
“I think for all of us it’s just cool to be back racing first of all, but it’s been an awesome night and it’s pretty cool when you have a couple of good battles towards the end, that just makes it even better.
“I’ve said this a few times now but it’s always pretty cool when I ride against Chris, it’s always pretty special.
“He’s one of the riders I watch on Facebook with the old videos popping up from back in the day that got me interested on speedway,
“It’s cool to be back racing again, and awesome to see everyone back, and we’re hoping for a good year.”
With the opener now in the books, the ATPI Aces now prepare for the start of the new Premiership season, which kicks off on Monday March 30 with Sheffield visiting the National Speedway Stadium in a Knockout Cup clash.
SCORES: Chris Holder 15, Dan Bewley 13, Jason Doyle 10, Brady Kurtz 10, Max Fricke 9, Chris Harris 9, Jan Kvech 8, Adam Ellis 8, Tom Brennan 8, Zach Cook 7, Sam Masters 6, Norick Blodorn 6, Nicolai Klindt 5, Rasmus Jensen 4, Peter Kildemand 1, Tate Zischke 1, Will Cairns (res) 0, Freddy Hodder (res) 0.
SEMI-FINAL: Kurtz, Fricke, Ellis, Kvech, Harris
FINAL: Bewley, Holder, Kurtz, Doyle, Fricke, Ellis