Workington’s Northside arena will be staging the annual Ben Fund Bonanza on Saturday March 16 at 2pm.
It’s another prestigious event to be allocated to the venue which will open the Comets new season back in the championship.
While the fund itself has been in operation for over 75 years the special Ben Fund Bonanza Meeting was the very bright idea of the then incoming secretary-treasurer Paul Ackroyd and this will be the 14th staging of the event first held in 2009 at Sheffield and won by Australian Leigh Adams.
Paul, a former speedway referee, said: “I’m very happy this year’s meeting will be at Workington. I visited three times last season including the opening day and I saw the enthusiasm and the improvements as the year progressed.”
The Ben Fund, a unique organisation within the speedway world, provides financial support and assistance to injured riders, both current and former who have suffered serious or life-changing injuries whilst racing for a British Club or representing Great Britain at international level.
The Bonanza forms a major source of income for the fund, along with bucket collections held at all the tracks throughout the season, individual fundraising events, donations and bequests.
Paul added@ “It remains vitally important. In the last week we have paid out £50,000 to some of the most seriously injured of our riders.”
The 2023 meeting, held at Kings Lynn was won for a second time by Ipswich and Redcar star Danny King, a rider who is keen to support the event whenever he can, while Plymouth racer Ben Barker holds the record for the number of appearances, being an ever present having raced in all 13 previous stagings to date, winning in 2012. And not forgetting Comets new captain Craig Cook is a two-time winner.
Comets co-promoter Steve Lawson added “The timing of this, as we move into the Championship, I just think will kick us off. I think it will put us on the map. We don’t know what the line-up will be, but it would be awesome to see some of the big names around Workington.”
Opening night in the Cab Direct Championship is Friday May 3 where champions Glasgow host newcomers Workington, while Redcar take on Scunthorpe. The following night sees 2021 and 2022 winners Poole visit Berwick.
However, there is plenty of action before that in late March and April, with the BSN Series kicking off the official season at Championship level as holders Poole host Oxford and Scunthorpe take on Workington on Good Friday, March 29.
A full list of the 2024 fixtures can be found at https://britishspeedway.co.uk/calendar/2024-fixtures-results/
