BELLE VUE captain Brady Kurtz admits defending the Peter Craven Memorial would be the “perfect” start to the new season.
The inspirational ATPI Aces captain leads a star-studded line-up for the opening event of the campaign at the National Speedway Stadium on Monday night (March 17).
There are a plethora of World Champions on show including Jason Doyle, Chris Holder, Emil Sayfutdinov, Robert Lambert, Dan Bewley, Maciej Janowski, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Max Fricke, Freddie Lindgren and Jaimon Lidsey.
Five-times Grand Prix winner Matej Zagar plus all the 2025 defending ROWE Motor Oil Premiership champions Belle Vue side will also be in action.
The Peter Craven Memorial always serves up the most spectacular conclusion with the six-rider finale to decide the champion.
Kurtz said: “I love this club and I love being here. It’s great to start the season with the Peter Craven Memorial.
“I was delighted to win it last year. It was definitely a meeting I wanted to tick off.
“But obviously it would be cool to do it again. It’s a really good line-up.
“All the boys will be wanting to get some laps in and do a good job. But to pick up the win in the final would be the perfect way to start 2025.”
Belle Vue CEO Mark Lemon is delighted to begin the 2025 season with such a sensational line-up of world class riders.
He said: “This will be an incredible start to the season. This field is world class and we can’t wait to see what they serve up on track.
“To have so many World Champions plus the five-rider semi and six-rider final and then fireworks to round it all off. It’s going to be a huge night.
“Of course there is also serious business for all the boys. For the Belle Vue side it’s important everyone gets some wins and gets race-sharp quickly.
“We’ve got a massive home clash with Ipswich the following Monday at the National Speedway Stadium in the KO Cup.
“We definitely need to hit the ground running for that one because the Witches are a strong side.”
There will also be official launch news for the Manchester Grand Prix events (June 13/14) announced during the event.
*Peter Craven Memorial line-up (in draw order): 1 Max Fricke, 2 Brady Kurtz, 3 Norick Blodorn, 4 Jaimon Lidsey, 5 Robert Lambert, 6 Emil Sayfutdinov, 7 Dan Bewley, 8, Maciej Janowski, 9 Zach Cook, 10 Matej Zagar, 11 Chris Harris, 12 Niels-Kristian Iversen, 13 Tate Zischke, 14 Jason Doyle, 15 Freddie Lindgren, 16 Chris Holder. Reserves: 17 Jake Mulford, 18 Freddy Hodder.
*A reminder that the start time for the Peter Craven Memorial is 7pm.