BELLE VUE captain Brady Kurtz insists that the club “should be proud” despite Sports Insure Premiership heartbreak.
The ATPI Aces missed out on a third successive Grand Final after an epic encounter with Ipswich at the National Speedway Stadium.
In the end it was so near but so far as the Witches snatched glory in the last heat decider.
Kurtz was given Rider of the Year and said: “Everyone knows how much I enjoy it here and this year was no different. I really enjoyed it in 2023, it was a great team and we all got along so well.
“I won’t touch too much on the disappointment we all still feel. But I think we should be proud of what we did achieve. We were a great team all year and we are a great club.”
Jaimon Lidsey had an outstanding return to the NSS and was an excellent engine-room performer with Charles Wright.
He added: “I’ve had a great year here. I felt like I came back a different rider this year.
“I was pretty happy in the end but Lemo (Mark Lemon) isn’t happy my average went up too much!
“We had a great year apart from the start and the end. We proved that we can do it and we’ll give it our all next year.”
Tom Brennan once again made a steady improvement and was a solid scorer in the No.2 position.
He added: “Unfortunately it finished the way it did. The team was really good this year. It didn’t play out the way we wanted it to obviously.
“I’ve been at the club for three years and progressed from the bottom. We are making steady progress.”
Dan Bewley attended at the NSS still on crutches after his recent operation.
On his season with the ATPI Aces, he said: “Parts of the season went good and some parts didn’t.
“It wasn’t the best year, sometimes you take two steps forward and one back.
“I learnt some valuable lessons. I would have liked the league to finish differently for us, we could have done more.”
Charles Wright also made his first public appearance at Belle Vue since his horror crash at Wroclaw when he sustained multiple injuries. That prematurely ended his season at the NSS.
Wright said: “I thought I had a very consistent season. We were more or less dominating the league.
“Obviously it was a big shame for me to miss out on the Play-Off semi-final. I think with a full team we could have gone all the way. It was one of those things.
“In a couple of weeks I’m back in hospital for scans and x-rays to see where my progress is at. Hopefully I’ll be back on a bike sooner rather than later.”
Words by Holeshot Media.
Images by Taylor Lanning.