Speedway Grand Prix: Impressive Dan Bewley could reach ‘Bartosz Zmarzlik standards’, says legend Tony Rickardsson

Dan Bewley has been backed as a potential future Speedway Grand Prix world champion by legend of the sport Tony Rickardsson.

The Brit caught the eye in his debut season as a full-time rider in 2022, achieving a top-six finish and winning back-to-back races in Cardiff and Gorzow respectively.

Ahead of the final round in Torun, the 24-year-old looks on course to lock down qualification for next year’s championship by finishing in the top six once again.

He sits in fifth place, and will be encouraged by the fact he has reached semi-finals in all bar two of nine meetings so far in 2023, winning one race in Malilla.

Speaking exclusively to Eurosport ahead of the Torun finale, six-time world champion and FIM Speedway global ambassador Rickardsson believes Bewley could one day emulate current champion and championship leader Bartosz Zmarzlik.

“Dan Bewley,” the Swede said when asked which rider he was most impressed with this season. “I think he really has the potential, the right mindset.

“I would say he would be the one that could lift his game up to Zmarzlik standards.

“If it happens next year, I’m not sure but I think it will soon come.”

As well as his impressive SGP displays, Bewley’s CV also includes a 2021 Speedway of Nations title with Great Britain.

He also helped his nation to a runners-up spot the following year and another second place finish in the 2023 Speedway World Cup.

This year, he successfully defended his British Speedway Championship and won the SGB Premiership Pairs with his club Belle Vue Aces.

While Bewley is going from strength to strength in the sport, he still has his work cut to catch up to Zmarzlik, who could clinch his fourth world title in five years on home soil.

Rickardsson suggests that the rest of the field, while packed with enough talent to make each race interesting, needs more riders to find consistency to put themselves in the title picture alongside the Pole and his main challenger this year Fredrik Lindgren.

“I would say, you have 10-12 riders who on their day, can go out there and win meetings and do really well,” he said.

“But they kind of need to make a challenge for the podium position towards the end of the year. They need to raise their game a little bit when they’re having a bad day.

“But that also makes the Speedway Grand Prix really exciting because apart from Bartosz and Freddie being up there, it is such a mix.

“You never know who’s going to win, and as a spectator, as I am, it’s excellent. It’s the guy in good form on the day who will win the meeting.”

On the quality of racing over the course of the whole season, he added: “The racing has improved quite a bit. Since last year, I think the tracks have been really well organised as well.

“So yeah, it’s been a good year. For me sitting on the sidelines and watching, the racing has been exciting.”