Tom Brennan turned 20 this summer and has been competing in the SGB Premiership with Belle Vue Aces, the same club as Ekstraliga rider, Daniel Bewley. On Friday night he will be racing in Bydgoszcz in the FIM Team Speedway U21 World Championship with British teammates, Drew Kemp and Leon Flint.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic no professional speedway took place at all in 2020 as the United Kingdom went into lockdown. But the trio were able to take part in some international events. “Me, Drew and Leon were all at the Junior Team Worlds last season when GB took bronze and we weren’t far off the top two places.”
Given that they have all been racing this year, the young Brit is optimistic about the squad’s chances, “I think Team GB have a really good chance of coming away with a medal, if not the gold one. We all start on zero points, so there’s no reason why it can’t be us on that top step” he says confidently.
Both Brennan and Kemp were unable to travel to Güstrow to take part in the U21 World Championship qualifiers because of the coronavirus restrictions. But later in the year, Kemp and Flint have had a taste of eWinner 1. Liga speedway in 2021. The former had four matches at Gdansk whilst the latter has started twice with Rybnik. Brennan, however, has remained in the UK. But that might change in 2022.
When we spoke before the 2021 season, he said his main aim was to be better at the end of the campaign than the beginning. And he has undoubtedly achieved that one. Over the last six months he has won the U21 British National Championships, debuted in the senior GB Speedway team and had a blinder at the SGP Challenge race in Glasgow where he scored 9 pts from 4 races.
“I have gained a lot of experience and achieved many things that I can be proud of in 2021,” he tells us, “And now the GB team all want to do well when representing our country, so we are excited to get going in Bydgoszcz”.
Brennan and company are aiming at the top step of the podium and it will be an exciting competition to see if their dream can become a reality in 2021.
