KURTZ BUILDING TOWARDS OBJECTIVE

By Phil Lanning

BELLE VUE’S Brady Kurtz admits he continues to build in a bid to be World Champion.

The Manchester-based Australian star goes into his home ATPI FIM British Grand Prix on June 13/14 placed second in the standings. 

It had been a dream debut year before he crashed out in the last round in Prague.

But Kurtz, 28, remains confident he can deliver at the National Speedway Stadium this weekend.

He said: “I missed out year after year in terms of getting into the SGP qualifiers to start with. Then you have to go through the rounds and then you have the Challenge. That was in Pardubice last October. It was a long year waiting for that. It was nice to finally get it all right. 

“We have been building and building and building and figuring out problems – why we couldn’t be in the GP and why we couldn’t be at the top. We fixed the problems one by one and here we are. 

“Obviously I didn’t expect to make such a strong start but we are all here to win. I came into the series wanting to be World Champion – just as the other guys did. I have put in a lot of work and things have been going well.” 

Kurtz is certainly keeping his feet on the ground despite the strong start to his GP campaign.

He added: “I’m not going to get carried away with it.

“It’s early days and we have a long way to go yet. It’s definitely where I want to be and it is a nice feeling. 

“I’m sure there will be some tough ones to follow and that’s something I will have to navigate when the time comes. 

“Obviously the Prague Grand Prix didn’t go to plan at all. To end up with a crash is not ideal. 

“I was pretty happy to get myself back into the meeting and the Last Chance Qualifier. But it was so disappointing to end in the manner it did. 

“On top of the frustration of missing out on the final, having led the race, it was a heavy crash which left me feeling pretty second hand for a good few days.” 

Kurtz is also delighted to be racing on home shale at the National Speedway Stadium.

He said: “It’s going to be a very cool couple of days and I’m excited to race on my home track. 

“There’s definitely no such thing as home advantage at the very top level in the GPs. All the top riders know the quickest way round the NSS, but we are definitely in for a great few days.”