ROBERT Lambert roared to his third national title and his second in succession with a dominant display in the Cab Direct British Final at Belle Vue.
Grand Prix star Lambert, who will lead Great Britain in the World Cup Final later this month, scored a 15-point maximum in the qualifying races and then converted that to overall victory in the Final.
Lambert selected the outside gate for the deciding race at the National Speedway Stadium and made it around Leon Flint on the back straight of lap one, whilst the major battle thereafter was for the remaining rostrum places.
Former champion Charles Wright stormed inside Flint to finish runner-up for the second season running, which also secured a Wild Card slot at next year’s British Grand Prix, and Flint finished third for his best-ever result in the meeting.
Fourth place overall went to 16-year-old Cooper Rushen who put in a sensational performance on debut to make it all the way to the Final.
Lambert said: “Sometimes having first pick in the Final is dangerous! It’s hard to know what to do – a couple of the gates were working well early on, then gate two came good later on.
“I won the British Final in 2018 from gate two, and last year from four, and the track was a little bit similar and I made it work in the last race (Heat 20) and Coops made it work in the semi-final. So I had to go for it and I backed myself to be able to do it.
“Today is one of those days where you need to win. I came here and everyone thought I’d already won before I turned a wheel.
“But the others are all gunning for that first spot and I can make mistakes with bike set-up, so it can be more difficult to come to a meeting like this than probably being in the Grand Prix sometimes because of that kind of pressure.
“That makes me stronger and being in that kind of environment helps me for the massive meetings like the World Cup coming up, to be able to handle that kind of pressure and still be able to perform.
“I’m happy to get my name on the trophy for the third time and for the second time in a row.”
Lambert had a brief but memorable spell with the ATPI Aces back in 2022 whilst Wright is a longer-term former Ace who has fought back from serious shoulder injuries earlier this season – and the podium was completed by Flint, who raced for Belle Vue Colts earlier in his career.
Wright said: “I probably played down how bad the injury was. I didn’t know where I was, but I’m a determined character, and I saw the right people and was determined to get back as quickly as possible.
“I knew I had one chance to make a move in the Final because lap after lap you seem to build your speed here, so diving underneath Leon (Flint) and taking his line was the only chance I had, and I took it.
“It will be my third Grand Prix (next year) and I’m so proud of myself and my achievements. It’s been a struggle, I’ve worked my way up and I’m 38 this year but I feel like I’m getting better with age!”
Flint said: “I hadn’t really been thinking about it because I’ve been flat out this week, especially since Tuesday, but something just changed on track walk.
“In the past few years I’ve always just felt like I was here to make up the numbers, but after track walk I thought to myself I was in with a chance.
“I think I fell off a little bit towards to the end, we lost what we were doing with the bike, but if someone had said that I’d be on the podium before the meeting I would have grabbed your hand off!”
Meanwhile it was a spectacular British Final debut for Rushen who made it all the way to the deciding race with a series of thrilling moves, which also helped him secure the Nigel Pearson Award for most exciting rider of the night.
He said: “If you had offered me fourth place before tonight I would have taken it, but once you get yourself into the Final then of course you want to get something out of it.
“But given the way I have been scoring lately, and I just don't know why, this was a very big confidence boost for me.
“I didn't really clutch well in the semi-final and so knew I had to just send it. Then I saw Leon move off the line and I went for it and made it pay off. So yes, a good night for me and it was a lot of fun out there."
With another successful British Final completed, the ATPI Aces resume their bid for top honours in the Premiership, and their next fixture comes up at Leicester on Thursday August 27.