Great Britain captain Robert Lambert admits his track telepathy with Dan Bewley helped the Lions storm to an epic FIM Speedway of Nations world-title triumph in Manchester on Saturday evening.

Just 24 hours ahead of England’s UEFA Euro 2024 final showdown with Spain in Berlin, GB’s dynamic duo got the weekend off to a golden start when they defeated Australia 7-2 in the Grand Final, with Bewley blazing under Roos pair Jack Holder and Brady Kurtz to join Lambert at the front and take the roof off the National Speedway Stadium.

A famous victory comes less than three years since Lambert and Bewley joined forces to end Britain’s 32-year wait for a world team title at the last FIM SON Final staged in Manchester in October 2021. 

The Brits have now finished in the world’s top two for the last four seasons on the bounce and Lambert admits his on-track understanding with Bewley, who races for Manchester host club Belle Vue, made all the difference as they grabbed gold in the ultimate test of team riding. 

The GB duo was pipped to top spot in the heat score chart by Australia, with the Roos securing automatic Grand Final qualification on 36 points, and the Lions scoring 35. This pitted them against third-placed Sweden, who recorded 27 points, in the Grand Final Qualifier.

Despite Sweden’s world No.2 Fredrik Lindgren winning the race – Lambert’s only loss to an opponent all night – the Brits finished second and third to claim a 5-4 heat advantage.

Lambert admits the showdown with Sweden was even more tense than their title fight with the Aussies. He said: “It was hard not getting straight through to the Grand Final. We had more pressure in the semi than we did the final. 

“Whatever way that went, we would have walked away with silver or gold. We knew we could do it. We stayed calm throughout the whole meeting and managed to get the gold back again.” 

Lambert, Bewley and GB reserve rider Tom Brennan won gold together in Manchester, but it will be every Brit for himself in the FIM Speedway GP of Great Britain – Cardiff at Principality Stadium on August 17.

With Lambert chasing his first Speedway GP World Championship medal, the performance of his career this evening sends him to the Welsh capital in red-hot form as he chases his maiden SGP victory.

“If this was a GP, I would have got my first win,” he said. “But I can’t get too wrapped up in that. My season has been great so far. We have a lot of meetings before we race in Cardiff. I’ll just keep things steady and keep going the way we are at the moment.” 

GB was something of an underdog in the sport’s team competitions not so long ago. With the Lions now regularly in the running for gold, joint team manager Simon Stead admits expectations were always going to be high in Manchester.

He said: “It feels like we have been waiting for this moment for quite a while. I have to say the lads have been brilliant all week and we put a good shift in when it mattered.

“Since we won in 2021, we go into this competition to win. Other nations may think a medal is a good achievement. We want to be better than that.

“The progress that has been made and the riders that we have at our disposal come with their own pressures. People now expect something from us and the fact we are delivering at the highest level is a testament to the lads we have riding for us and the backroom team and the network we have behind us.” 

Aussie skipper Jack Holder led his side to victory at the last FIM SON Final in Vojens, Denmark two years ago. 

He worked overtime in this year’s Grand Final to engineer a way through for partner Brady Kurtz, who impressed on his FIM SON debut this week. But the Roos fell just short of a second straight gold medal on a Manchester track that allowed Bewley to make one of the passes of the season to snatch gold for GB.

Holder said: “The whole meeting tonight was awesome. There was plenty of good racing and the crowd was loving it. It came down to that Grand Final and the Speedway of Nations is hard. You are trying to race your own race, but you are always looking behind.

“You are trying to slow it up and it’s quite hard to slow up a race when you are going that fast around this track. We did the best we could and that was enough for second.

“Brady was good. He has ridden here week in and week out for Belle Vue over the last couple of years. He did his job; everyone did their job. It wasn’t good enough, but fair play to Great Britain – they got the job done when it mattered. We will hopefully come back strong next year.” 

Sweden bagged bronze for the second straight FIM SON and their captain Lindgren was delighted with his side’s performance over the week as double Swedish champion Jacob Thorssell starred alongside him.

Lindgren said: “When you are in the Grand Final Qualifier, you are fighting for it. But overall, we have done a really good job over these two meetings. We should be proud of the bronze medal we got. Jacob did a tremendous job alongside me. I am very happy.”