Speedway GP duo Brady Kurtz and Jack Holder warmed up for the 2025 Australian Championship series with victories in open meetings Down Under.
FIM SGP Challenge winner Kurtz topped the podium in the Phil Crump Solo Classic in Mildura on Sunday, winning the six-rider final ahead of local favourite Jaimon Lidsey in second, FIM North America champion Luke Becker in third, Great Britain star Tom Brennan in fourth, reigning Aussie champion Rohan Tungate in fifth and sixth-placed former national champion Sam Masters.
Kurtz and Lidsey both starred in the heats on 14 points, with the SGP newcomer getting the verdict when it mattered most. Becker and Tungate tallied 12 over five rides, while Brennan accrued 11 and Masters scored 10.
Czech Speedway GP star Jan Kvech is currently on a tour Down Under and scored eight points in the heats, before finishing second to Masters in the B Final to fall just short of A Final qualification.
Just 24 hours earlier, Holder went unbeaten in the International Speedway Masters at Gillman last Saturday, with the world No.6 winning the final ahead of his brother, 2012 Speedway GP world champion Chris Holder in second. Kvech took third place ahead of Lidsey.
Triple Aussie champion Max Fricke scored 10 points in the heats, before missing out on final qualification after finishing second in his semi. Brennan qualified for the semis on seven before exiting in second place too.
Becker bagged 10 in the heats, before a third place in the semi ended his night, along with Denmark’s Jonas Jeppesen, who scored eight. Despite scoring nine in the heats, fourth spot in the semi saw Masters’ night end, with former Aussie SON2 star Fraser Bowes also reaching the semi on six points, before finishing in fourth place.
Attention now turns to the Australian Championship series, which gets underway at Gillman on Friday, before visiting Victorian venues Mildura (January 5) and Albury Wodonga (January 8) and concluding at the Darcy Ward-promoted North Brisbane track on January 11.
The top two riders in the Aussie Championship earn places in the 2025 Speedway GP qualification rounds where they will battle to reach the FIM SGP Challenge in Holsted on August 9. The top four riders at the Danish event secure spots in the 2026 Speedway GP series.
Another berth in the SGP qualifiers is also on offer to the winner of the FIM Oceania Championship, which takes place at Gillman on January 25.