BELLE VUE captain Brady Kurtz admitted it was “pretty cool” to join the greats and win the Peter Craven Memorial.
The flying Australian beat a world class field to take victory in the traditional season opener at the National Speedway Stadium on Monday night.
Kurtz, 27, swept aside ATPI Aces team-mate Dan Bewley and ex-Belle Vue star Max Fricke to take the famous trophy.
He admitted: “It’s pretty cool to join such an illustrious list of winners. I don’t think there’s a bigger meeting in the UK that you can win.“I’ve been trying for a few years now to get the win. I managed to put it together in the final so I’m really happy with that.
“The final with six riders is pretty cool. Thankfully I only saw one other rider. Other years before I’ve been in the thick of it, it’s wild when there’s so many bikes going left and right and people passing each other.
“You don’t get to see it that often. We are lucky we have got a track we can get six riders on. I’m stoked to get the result.”
“It was a good meeting and the bikes were awesome. I’m really looking forward to the season now.
“Now I’m ready for Ipswich on Thursday night. It’s always a tough one. We’ve got such a good team. All we have to do is get the job done.
Kurtz is also “super-happy” with the team aiming to reclaim the Premiership title.
The ATPI Aces begin their league season at the scene of where they effectively lost their crown last autumn at Ipswich on Thursday night.
Kurtz, 27 is convinced that the largely unchanged Manchester side have got what it takes to bring glory back to the National Speedway Stadium.
He said: “It’s been pretty good, I felt at home since I’ve been here. The last few seasons have been really successful.
“I’m super-happy with our team again. I think we can start off strong and push on again.
“The secret to success? Me being the captain! Everything is the way it should be here. It’s all run as professional as it can be.
“The track is perfect, Mark puts together a good team most of the time.
“Everybody is just happy to be here and that just proves why the results happen on track.
“For sure we have a team again that can win the Premiership. It’s a really good bunch of guys. All of us can definitely improve from the previous season and that’s going to be the most important thing for us.”
Kurtz is also clearly delighted to be back in the mix to qualify for the Grand Prix series after going so close in recent years.
He added: “It didn’t start off the best for me in Aussie, that’s for sure. I finished strong and I got the GP qualification place and that was my main goal.”
Words by Holeshot Media.
Images by Taylor Lanning.