Speedway: Todd Kurtz signs on after a '˜dream' Sheffield Tigers season

Aussie ace Kurtz made a big impression in his first season with the club and immediately made it clear he wanted to be back in 2018.

It’s a move which was predicted by many as he has been sponsored by Tigers co-owner Peter Mole in recent seasons and raced for him at Newport.

Tigers also invested in his contract to make him a club asset last season and he feels at home.

He said: “I’m honestly stoked to be back with Sheffield.

“They are my parent club now and I get along really well with all the owners.”

He admits last season could hardly have gone any better – particularly as it was his first with the club.

“Last season was a dream come true, winning the title with a great group of blokes,” he said.

“It was honestly the perfect outcome from the season. It makes me want to dig deep for more in 2018.

“I’ve got a season at Sheffield under my belt now and we have won the title.

“Next year we don’t want to settle for anything less.

“We will fight until the end.”

Kurtz was based in Poole last season meaning a 500-mile round trip for home meetings – not to mention away visits to Glasgow and Edinburgh!

“The travelling took a lot of my time but I was only racing in one league,” he said.

“I like the area I live and I’ve got a lot of friends down there, so I never really regarded it as a problem.

“I’m going to be set up and ready to go when the season starts and I like the look of the team so far, I think we can be strong again.

“It’s always a tough ask to win the league title two years in a row but that’s what we’ll be aiming to do, you can be sure of that.”

The signing of Kurtz means there is still room for Kyle Howarth within the points limit but the situation needs to be resolved with his parent club Workington for that to happen.