BEWLEY: SEEKING MORE THAN EXPERIENCE

Great Britain racer Dan Bewley insists he’s seeking more than experience as he prepares for his FIM Speedway Grand Prix call-up.

The FIM Speedway of Nations world champion was named as Speedway GP second substitute rider for 2022, but was handed a place in the main line-up after Russian duo Artem Laguta and Emil Sayfutdinov saw their licences suspended by the FIM until further notice.

Bewley joins first substitute star Jack Holder in receiving an unexpected opportunity and both men are out to impress against the world’s elite.

Some might say the pair have little pressure on their shoulders, having been drafted in just weeks before the season-opening FIM Speedway GP of Croatia – Gorican on April 30.

But Wroclaw and Smederna rider Bewley insisted: “You don’t want to just show up and get experience. At least that’s not what I want to do. You don’t want to disgrace yourself – you want to do well.”

The Cumbrian is working hard to prepare for a much busier schedule following his Speedway GP promotion.

He said: “Obviously I was ready to go as it was. But it is pretty expensive in the GPs, so we just need to work out how we are going to make it work. Hopefully I can be ready and we will do the best we can.

“It’s all so fresh at the minute, but we are working on things. We are going to be quite a bit busier with all the driving and it will be a little more difficult with the equipment and keeping on top of it. We will be so busy and pretty much always on the road.

“We are going to have to adjust some things slightly, but we will sit down, see what we need to do and just try to make it work. It’s pretty last-minute, so it’s not easy. But we just have to do the best we can.”

Bewley has worked closely with Wroclaw and GB team mate Tai Woffinden and his chief mechanic Jacek Trojanowski over the past year, with the triple world title-winning duo’s influence on and off the track clearly making a difference.

Now they are rivals on the Speedway GP stage, but Bewley admitted: “We are at different points in our careers. I am just at the beginning and he is at the top really. Obviously that is where I am striving to be.

“I am still working with Tai, Jaco and the whole team. Hopefully it will be a successful year; not just for me, but for the two of us.

“I am just really happy with how everything is working. I just want to get racing and get some good results. We are starting to get back into it and I am looking forward to it.”

Photo: Taylor Lanning