Great Britain national speedway team

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Great Britain
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
Team captainTai Woffinden
Nation colourBlue
SWC Wins9
Squad
  • Tai Woffinden
  • Robert Lambert
  • Daniel Bewley
  • Tom Brennan
  • Jordan Palin

The Great Britain Speedway Team (also known as GB Speedway Team) is one of the major teams in international speedway. The team is managed by former Great Britain riders Oliver Allen and Simon Stead, and captained by the 2018 Speedway World Champion Tai Woffinden.

Speedway World Cup[]

The England national speedway team has won the Speedway World Team Cup on five occasions with the Great Britain side winning four times. They were a major force in the 1970s, winning five consecutive tournaments, two as England and three as Great Britain. Key riding members of the title wins include Peter Collins (five wins), Malcolm Simmons (four wins), New Zealand-born Ivan Mauger, Dave Jessup and Ray Wilson (all three wins). The cup has eluded them since 1989, although they came close in 2000, missing out when Mark Loram fell in a race-off, and 2004 where a team of Mark Loram, Lee Richardson, Gary Havelock, David Norris and Scott Nicholls missed out by one point. Both narrow defeats were at the hands of Sweden and both in somewhat controversial fashion.

Prior to 1974, the Great Britain team often consisted of riders from other Commonwealth Nations including Australia and New Zealand.

New Era[]

In 2018, the commercial rights for the Great Britain Speedway Team were acquired on a multi-year deal by VRX Motorsport. A new management team was formed and Tai Woffinden, who made himself unavailable for Great Britain selection in 2016, returned to the team as captain.

Speedway of Nations[]

In June 2018, Great Britain competed as one of 15 nations in the inaugural Speedway of Nations tournament. The new format, which replaced the Speedway World Cup, saw each country field a team of three riders in pairs competition, with two opening rounds followed by a two-day final.

GB raced on home soil in Event Two at the National Speedway Stadium against Sweden, Australia, Czech Republic, Italy, France and Finland with the top three teams joining the final hosts Poland and the top three from Event One (Teterow, Germany).

Great Britain finished second on the night, behind Sweden, with Woffinden scoring 14 points, youngster Robert Lambert 8 and Craig Cook 1.

They were joined in the final by Poland, Denmark, Germany, Russia, Sweden and Australia. The team with the highest points total over two days (42 races) would head straight to the Grand Final, racing against the winner of a race-off between 2nd and 3rd place.

Britain topped the leaderboard after Day One and again after Day Two, but Russia were able to secure a 3-3 in the Grand Final to leave Britain with a silver medal.

Woffinden was the event top scorer with an astonishing 38 points over the two days, while Lambert scored a vital 11.

At the 2021 Speedway of Nations Event in Manchester UK. Speedway Team GB ended 32 years of hurt in the hunt for gold. They first beat Denmark 6-3 (Finishing in 1st and 3rd), in the Grand Final Qualifier after finishing 3rd overall on 64 points after 2 days racing. They then went on to beat Poland in the Grand Final on a 5-4 heat advantage, (Coming 2nd and 3rd) this then secured Team GB the gold medal.

Return of Test Matches[]

In August 2018, Great Britain hosted a top-level international test match for the first time in over 15 years when they took on Australia at Glasgow's Peugeot Ashfield Stadium.

Britain were defeated in front of a large crowd as Australia's superior depth showed.

The seven man team comprised Woffinden, Lambert, Cook, Adam Ellis, Daniel Bewley, Chris Harris and Steven Worrall.

Wins as Great Britain[]

Year Venue Standings (Pts) GB Riders and Pts
1968 England
Wembley
1. United Kingdom GREAT BRITAIN (40)
2. Sweden Sweden (30)
3. Poland Poland (19)
4. Czech Republic Czechoslovakia (7)
Ivan Mauger (NZ) 12
Nigel Boocock 10
Martin Ashby 8
Barry Briggs (NZ) 7
Norman Hunter 3
1971 Poland
Wroclaw
1. United Kingdom GREAT BRITAIN (37)
2. Soviet Union Soviet Union (22)
3. Poland Poland (19)
4. Sweden Sweden (18)
Ray Wilson 12
Ivan Mauger (NZ) 10
Jim Airey (AUS) 9
Barry Briggs (NZ) 6
Ronnie Moore (NZ) -
1972 Germany
Olching
1. United Kingdom GREAT BRITAIN (36)
2. Soviet Union Soviet Union (21)
3. Poland Poland (21)
4. Sweden Sweden (18)
Ivan Mauger (NZ) 11
John Louis 9
Terry Betts 9
Ray Wilson 8
Ronnie Moore (NZ) -
1973 England
Wembley
1. United Kingdom GREAT BRITAIN (37)
2. Sweden Sweden (31)
3. Soviet Union Soviet Union (20)
4. Poland Poland (8)
Peter Collins 12
Terry Betts 9
Malcolm Simmons 8
Ray Wilson 8
Dave Jessup -

Wins as England[]

Year Venue Standings (Pts) Eng Riders and Pts
1974 Poland
Chorzow
1. England ENGLAND (42)
2. Sweden Sweden (31)
3. Poland Poland (13)
4. Soviet Union Soviet Union (10)
Peter Collins 12
John Louis 12
Dave Jessup 10
Malcolm Simmons 8
Ray Wilson -
1975 Germany
Norden
1. England ENGLAND (41)
2. Soviet Union Soviet Union (29)
3. Sweden Sweden (17)
4. Poland Poland (9)
Peter Collins 12
Malcolm Simmons 11
Martin Ashby 10
John Louis 8
Dave Jessup -
1977 Poland
Wroclaw
1. England ENGLAND (37)
2. Poland Poland (25)
3. Czech Republic Czechoslovakia (23)
4. Sweden Sweden (11)
Peter Collins 10
9
Dave Jessup 9
John Davis 6
Malcolm Simmons 3
1980 Poland
Wroclaw
1. England ENGLAND (40)
2. United States USA (29)
3. Poland Poland (15)
4. Czech Republic Czechoslovakia (12)
Michael Lee 11
Chris Morton 11
Peter Collins 10
Dave Jessup 8
John Davis -
1989 England
Odsal
1. England ENGLAND (48)
2. Denmark Denmark (34)
3. Sweden Sweden (30)
4. United States USA (8)
Jeremy Doncaster 13
Paul Thorp 12
Kelvin Tatum 12
Simon Wigg 11
Simon Cross 0

U-21 Speedway World Cup[]

Year Place Pts. Riders
2005 - - 3rd place in Qualifying Round 1
2006 - - 3rd place in Qualifying Round 1
2007 2 36 Edward Kennett (14), Lewis Bridger (11), James Wright (6), Daniel King (5), Tai Woffinden
2008 - - 3rd place in Qualifying Round 1

Titles[]

Preceded by
Sweden Sweden
World Champions
1968 (1st title)
Succeeded by
Poland Poland
Preceded by
Sweden Sweden
World Champions
1971 (2nd title)
1972 (3rd title)
1973 (4th title)
1974 (5th title)
1975 (6th title)
Succeeded by
Australia Australia
Preceded by
Australia Australia
World Champions
1977 (7th title)
Succeeded by
Denmark Denmark
Preceded by World Champions
1980 (8th title)
Succeeded by
Denmark Denmark
Preceded by
Denmark Denmark
World Champions
1989 (9th title)
Succeeded by
United States USA

Famous British riders[]

References[]

External links[]

Retrieved from ""