THIRD IS COOL FOR KURTZ

BRADY Kurtz said he was delighted to return from injury with third place on his home Belle Vue track in Friday’s GP opener as he remained in World Championship contention.

The Aces skipper had not ridden since crashing heavily in the last GP in Prague, missing his club’s last match in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership as a result.

He picked up one point on World Champion Bartosz Zmarzlik by passing him for second in the Sprint Race behind Leicester captain Max Fricke, before Zmarzlik outscored him by two points with runners-up spot in the Final with Kurtz third.

It leaves him nine points behind the five-times champion as the Australian continues an impressive debut GP campaign.

Kurtz said: “I’m stoked with third. The first two rounds went a little bit too well probably you could say, and then Prague sucked, and then I thought today I really needed to get back up amongst it to stay in the points.

“It was good all night, I had loads of speed and I just missed out in the Final.

“The crash in Prague hurt me, I really hit the ground hard and I haven’t really felt like that after a crash and had nothing broken. I was not really in a good way for the next few days. I did a lot of physio and rehabilitation – anything I could to be as healthy as I could be come this weekend.

“It’s tough for the Aussies that we don’t ever get to have our own round, but I was super grateful for the support I had today. Obviously I’m not British but it definitely felt like a little bit of my own ground I guess, and it’s nice to be here.”

Photo credit: IAN CHARLES