Belle Vue captain Brady Kurtz swept to a dominant victory in the Peter Craven Memorial as he successfully retained the trophy in Manchester.
Kurtz was the class of a field packed with world stars at the National Speedway Stadium, and after topping the qualifying scores on 13 points he made no mistake in the six-rider final.
Dan Bewley and Jason Doyle were the other automatic final qualifiers, but it was Chris Holder who came through the semi and then took second overall after making a good start from gate two before fending off a lap two challenge from Bewley, who had to settle for third.
Doyle and Jaimon Lidsey completed the finishers in the final whilst Max Fricke retired from fourth place on the third lap.
Kurtz said: “I thought it was going to be tough at the start of the night because of the quality of the line-up.
“It’s nice just to start the season strong really. It doesn’t really feel like the start of the year because I’ve already been riding back home in Australia!
“Things are going well and I’m ready for the season. It’s the perfect start.
“I’m really happy with this and to retain this title. Everyone knows that I wanted this a year ago and to do it again is special to me.”
