Dan Bewley delivered a faultless display to win the Sports Insure British Final Championship at Belle Vue on Sunday.
But it wasn’t the only reward on the day for the Maryport racer who clearly excited the Manchester crowd.
The former Workington Comets rider raced to six straight wins in a meeting high on entertainment to secure his first senior national crown as he continues a stunning season overall.
Bewley was also the winner of the inaugural Nigel Pearson Award in a poll voted by supporters.
He received 43 per cent of the vote, edging out Kyle Howarth on 32 per cent with the Sheffield and Leicester man also delivering an action-packed display before missing out in the semi-final.
A former Aces favourite, who has raced in Sweden and Poland this season, had blasted clear in the Final leaving a major scrap for the remaining rostrum places behind him, with current Belle Vue Rising Star Tom Brennan finishing runner-up ahead of another ex-Comets and Belle Vue man Craig Cook.
Bewley said: “It was great to be back at Belle Vue for this meeting. You always want to win meetings like this but it’s extra special to do it in front of my ‘home crowd’ in Manchester.
“It’s a special feeling to have ticked this one off. It was good to have gone through the card, but it doesn’t mean anything going into the Final.
“You’ve got three other guys next to you that want it as badly as you, so I knew I needed to make a good start, and I’m delighted to have finally won.”
Fellow West Cumbrian Cook said: “If you had told me at the start of the meeting that I would be going straight through to the Final then I would have taken that all day long.
“I’ve had a challenging few weeks coping with some injuries, and I really wanted to be able to finish the season on a high and I’ve made some good progress just recently.
“I’m happy with third. I’ve been on the top step before now and I’m very pleased to see Dan experiencing what I experienced when I won, so congratulations to him.”
