AUSTRALIA'S select side took the honours in Sunday's hugely successful Ben Fund Bonanza at Swindon's Abbey Stadium.

The event, to raise vital funds for injured, disabled and retired speedway riders, provided plenty of entertainment for the Blunsdon crowd despite well documented problems with rider availability.

Despite England drawing level at the half-way point, the Aussies were dominant in the second part of the meeting, dropping just three points in the final eight heats to win the challenge by nine clear points.



Nick Morris, who scored ten points for Australia as well as winning the 2015 Ben Fund Bonanza Individual trophy, was delighted with how the meeting went.

"First and foremost it was just nice to ride for what is such a great cause," said Morris.

"It was good to get some extra time on my home track and to win both events was great for me.

"Us Aussie boys always have a great team spirit no matter what the event and that was the case again today.

"I'm glad we were able to put on a good show for the fans and hopefully we've helped raise a lot of money too."

Ben Fund organiser Paul Ackroyd was also pleased with how the seventh staging of the event turned out.

He said: "The weather was kind to us in the end, there was some excellent racing for the first meeting of the season and I think everyone involved has to be very happy.

"We're hugely grateful to all the riders who gave up their time and all of the fans who came through the turnstiles.

"We were happy with the crowd size and even though we've still got some money to come through, I think we can definitely say it's been another successful year."

CHALLENGE

AUSTRALIA 35: Rory Schlein 10, Nick Morris 10, Sam Masters 8, Rusty Harrison 7.

ENGLAND 26: Kyle Howarth 10, Ben Barker 8, Kyle Newman 6, Max Clegg 2.

DENMARK 25: Bjarne Pedersen 10, Thomas Jorgensen 6, Kenneth Hansen 5, Jan Graversen 4.

POLAND 10: Grzegorz Walasek 4, Nike Luna 3, Szymon Wozniak 2, Jakub Jamrog 1.

BEN FUND INDIVIDUAL BONANZA
FINAL: Morris, Walasek, Howarth, Graversen.

Pictures: LES AUBREY