Images courtesy of Brett Thurlow Photography

The former Glasgow man, now lining up at No.1 for Edinburgh, scored 11 points in the qualifiers before producing a superb semi-final ride, sweeping from third to first ahead of Kevin Juhl Pedersen and Danny King. He carried that momentum into the Final, hitting the front around the outside on turn four and controlling the race to take the win, with Juhl Pedersen second and Peter Kildemand completing the podium.

Behind the headline result, there was plenty to take from the rest of the field. Justin Sedgmen, Kildemand and Leon Flint all topped the scoring charts with 12 points in the qualifiers, underlining their consistency, while Juhl Pedersen and King both showed strong early-season form in reaching the Final stages. Kyle Howarth and Ben Barker were solid throughout on eight points apiece, while Chris Harris, Kye Thomson and Tom Brennan all showed glimpses despite missing out on the latter stages.

Further down the order, Jason Edwards and Victor Palovaara had steady nights, while youngsters Sam Hagon and Tate Zischke gained valuable track time against experienced opposition. Reid Battye and Ace Pijper were unable to trouble the scorers, but the meeting offered a useful early benchmark across the Championship field.

Thompson said: “It’s the perfect start for me. I’m now at No.1 at Edinburgh so it was important to show I can beat other No.1s. It’s nice to begin the season with a strong performance and win.”

Results

SCORES: Justin Sedgmen 12, Peter Kildemand 12, Leon Flint 12, Dan Thompson 11, Kevin Juhl Pedersen 10, Danny King 9, Kyle Howarth 8, Ben Barker 8, Chris Harris 7, Kye Thomson 7, Tom Brennan 6, Jason Edwards 6, Victor Palovaara 5, Sam Hagon 4, Tate Zischke 2, Reid Battye 0, Ace Pijper (res) 0.

SEMI-FINAL: Thompson, Juhl Pedersen, King, Flint.

FINAL: Thompson, Juhl Pedersen, Kildemand, Sedgmen.

The post Dan Thompson wins 2026 Ben Fund Bonanza appeared first on Speedway Hub UK.

Glasgow promoter Alan Dick explained how the West of Scotland club came to step up again for the Ben Fund. “We’re delighted to be having it. We had said to Paul at the end of last season that if he was looking for a track, we’d be willing to stage it at the start of the season. He said that there were one or two clubs who had expressed something similar, and it would be up to the Trustees to make the final decision.

“So when he phoned to say that the Trustees would like it to come to Glasgow this year for a second time, we were really up for it. It will almost certainly be our first meeting of the season.

“Our normal Saturday night start time would be 7pm but I think Paul wants to start a bit earlier, at 6pm. It lets people travelling from say the north of England and elsewhere get home a wee bit earlier. Should be over by 9pm.”

Glasgow fans nowadays are well used to having big events at their track. “We’ve got an FIM qualifier again in May. I think the pits area and the stadium lends itself to a good atmosphere for this type of meeting.”

The first staging of the Bonanza was in 2009 at Sheffield, and next year’s will be the 16th staging with 2018 and 2021 being the missing years when plans were thwarted. Glasgow are the fourth club to take on the Bonanza for the second time, the others being Leicester, King’s Lynn and Scunthorpe.

For sure every club will have had riders who had cause to be grateful for the generosity of the Ben Fund. Amongst Glasgow riders of the past for example Ulrich Ostergaard and Lewis Kerr come to mind, and from the current squad Kyle Howarth. Alan Dick is in no doubt of the importance of the Fund.

“It’s absolutely crucial. The fans at Glasgow are very generous as are other tracks in their annual collection, and they know the money goes to riders who are injured. Every penny raised will go to the fund, Glasgow are not taking this meeting to make a penny out of it. Everything that we raise on the day other than some expenses such as ambulance, tyres etc. will go to the Ben Fund.

“I’m not sure that any other country has an equivalent to the Ben Fund. Perhaps it should be a lead to these other countries. Certainly the riders are very appreciative of it.”

Few stadia have seen as many recent changes as Ashfield. “I don’t think there’s anything new at the stadium since last season, it will be much as it has been for last season. But we’ve certainly got the new Grandstand on the third bend which holds an extra 400 people, that’s only been up a year and a bit now, so some fans might not have seen that. Our seating capacity is now 800 between the two areas, so fans can get a seat.

“Certainly the Facennas have done a magnificent job from the days when Stewart Dickson and I had it. Back then we had to rent it from the football club and we were not at liberty to make any changes. Now the Facennas own the stadium, and the changes are down to them. We’ve gone from a basic old football stadium to a fairly modern stadium, although our old stand is still the same. Our capacity is now just under 3,000.”

“We’re looking forward to having the Bonanza again, everybody at Glasgow is.”

Words by Mike Hunter – Speedway Ben Fund – Image Courtesy of Speedway Ben Fund

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