BEWLEY HAILS WROCLAW'S LIFE-CHANGING LEAP OF FAITH

Cardiff winner Dan Bewley admits a leap of faith from Polish champions Wroclaw helped him establish himself as a top-line rider.

The Cumbrian surged up to fourth place in the Speedway GP World Championship after an unforgettable victory at the FIM Speedway GP of Great Britain – Cardiff last Saturday.

Bewley became the first home winner at Principality Stadium since Chris Harris topped the podium 15 years ago.

And tonight he could secure his place in the 2023 Speedway GP series if he finishes in the top three at the FIM GP Challenge in Glasgow, where he is joined by fellow SGP regulars Robert Lambert, Jack Holder, Max Fricke and Anders Thomsen, with 2012 world champion Chris Holder a late addition to a stellar line-up.

While Bewley is enjoying a meteoric rise in the sport, he admits it might not have happened, had Wroclaw not recruited him for the 2020 season and stuck with him as he established himself in the world’s toughest speedway league.

The 2021 FIM Speedway of Nations world champion said: “It’s a story not many people know, but I actually had a pretty terrible season with Rybnik in 2019. I only did a few meetings – well, one or two good races I should say.

“I only signed in Wroclaw in the Ekstraliga because nobody in the First Division wanted me. It was pretty funny. I will always be pretty thankful to Andrzej Rusko and all the management in Wroclaw for believing in me and seeing something.

“I took the opportunity and I struggled a little bit. I always felt I had the ability; I just wasn’t executing and putting everything together. But I think it’s paying off for them now because we are a pretty strong team.”

Bewley now hopes to make it back-to-back Speedway GP wins in the Betard FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Wroclaw next Saturday.

The Brit admits he was surprised when people predicted him to win in Cardiff – especially as he feels Wroclaw’s iconic Olympic Stadium track suits him much better. He said: “It’s funny. People were tipping me to win in Cardiff. If you were a betting man, it is the closest type of track to Warsaw and I was pretty average there.

“If people were tipping me to win in Wroclaw, I would say ‘fair enough’, but I didn’t know about Cardiff. I wouldn’t really say Cardiff was my best track, but maybe in the end it was.”

FIM GP CHALLENGE LINE-UP: 1 Oliver Berntzon, 2 Vaclav Milik, 3 Dan Bewley, 4 Max Fricke, 5 Andzejs Lebedevs, 6 Rasmus Jensen, 7 David Bellego, 8 Anders Thomsen, 9 Szymon Wozniak, 10 Chris Holder, 11 Rohan Tungate, 12 Robert Lambert, 13 Jack Holder, 14 Dominik Kubera, 15 Michael Jepsen Jensen, 16 Kim Nilsson.