PALM TOFT TRIUMPHS IN MANCHESTER

Danish racer Michael Palm Toft saw off Matej Zagar and Tai Woffinden to win a star-studded Peter Craven Memorial final in Manchester on Monday.

Palm Toft helped Peterborough lift the SGB Premiership title in 2021, and he started the season in the same red-hot form, topping the podium ahead of former Belle Vue favourite Zagar in second and triple world champion Woffinden, who finished third in the six-man final.

Aces rider Brady Kurtz took fourth place ahead of former world No.3 Niels-Kristian Iversen in fifth, while returning Belle Vue No.1 Max Fricke was sixth.

Zagar topped the heat scorechart after five rides with 12 points, with Palm Toft second after receiving a late call-up for the meeting. Kurtz got the third automatic place in the final on nine points after registering two heat wins, a second and a third.

Woffinden also scored nine, but was forced to contest the five-rider semi-final, which he won ahead of Iversen and Fricke, who also raced to nine points in the heats.

Danish rider Nicolai Klindt claimed eight points from his opening three rides, but failed to score from his next two and finished fourth in the semi.

Speedway GP newcomer Dan Bewley also fell short of final qualification. He ended the heats on nine and took fifth spot in the semi.

FIM Speedway of Nations gold medallists Robert Lambert and Tom Brennan missed the semi-final cut on seven, along with former Speedway GP star Chris Harris and 2019 British champion Charles Wright. Aussie ace Jason Doyle collected six points.

Photo: Taylor Lanning