ROOKIE Brady Kurtz became the third Poole Pirates rider to reach the Grand Prix Challenge – albeit with the help of the weather.
The 19-year-old racked up six points in three heats before the rain came down in Lonigo with just enough speedway completed for a result.
Kurtz opened with a third place behind Robert Lambert and Mikkel Bech before bagging a crucial chequered flag in heat six, beating Nico Covatti, Tomas H Jonasson and Freddie Lindgren.
The Aussie remained in the all-important top seven with second spot behind runaway leader and new Polish champion Patryk Dudek, finishing ahead of Michael Jepsen Jensen and Daniel Gappmaier.
Then came the early end to the action with current Grand Prix star Bartosz Zmarzlik, Lindgren, Jepsen Jensen and Craig Cook among the shock casualties.
Kurtz will join Krzysztof Buczkowski and Hans Andersen in a 16-strong field that will vie for three places in 2017 Grand Prix series at the Challenge in Vetlanda, Sweden on September 3.
Grand Prix Challenge line-up: Piotr Pawlicki, Krzysztof Kasprzak, Kenneth Bjerre, Sam Masters, Krzysztof Buczkowski, Peter Ljung, Hans Andersen, Patryk Dudek, Tomasz Jedrzejak, Max Fricke, Nicolas Covatti, Robert Lambert, Brady Kurtz, Martin Smolinski plus two wild cards. Reserves: Martin Vaculik, Mikkel Bech Jensen.
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