Speedway GP stars join Peter Craven Memorial line up at Belle Vue
The field for the 2023 Peter Craven Memorial at the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester is almost complete, with the addition of world championship contenders Dan Bewley and Jason Doyle.
The annual meeting in memory of Double World Speedway Champion Peter Craven kickstarts Belle Vue Aces season.
There are now only three spots to fill.
Current Belle Vue Aces Brady Kurtz, Tom Brennan, Charles Wright, Norick Blodorn and Jaimon Lidsey will all feature in this year’s line-up.
Premiership champions Matej Zagar and Max Fricke return to their old stomping ground with Freddie Lindgren, Tobiasz Musielak, Michael Palm Toft and Krzysztof Kasprzak.
Dan Bewley has been welcomed back into the Aces fold after spending a season away from UK racing and will spearhead the club’s efforts to retain their league championship in 2023.
And his fellow Grand Prix star Jason Doyle will no doubt be amongst favourites for victory in the Peter Craven Memorial after he made history with three consecutive wins in the event from 2018-2020.
Belle Vue CEO Mark Lemon said: "Every year we strive to attract a high calibre of rider to the Peter Craven Memorial and every year we are always met with great enthusiasm to take part.
"Dan is someone who is happiest when he’s on two wheels, regardless of the discipline, and not only is he the British Champion and a double Grand Prix victor but he is also a past winner of this meeting.
"I’ve no doubt he’ll be targeting his second Peter Craven win this year and with his affinity for the National Speedway Stadium he’ll be up there as a firm favourite.
"Jason is a rider whom I have worked with extensively over the years and though he has never ridden for Belle Vue, he made club history with the Peter Craven Memorial after his triple win.
"It has been done before, by club legend Chris Morton, but never consecutively and, he has the chance to make history again in 2023 if he walks away with his fourth win."
This year is the 28th staging of the Peter Craven Memorial.
Peter Craven rode for the Belle Vue Aces for more than a decade and was also a double World Champion.
He won his first title in 1954, just six years after his first go on a speedway bike.
He won his second world title in 1962, but a year later, died in hospital after a crash on a racetrack in Edinburgh.
Peter was just 29 and left behind him his wife Brenda, their six year old son Robert, and two year old daughter Julie.
Peter Craven is still widely regarded as one of the best speedway riders there ever was.
The memorial event takes place on Monday 20 March.