Great Britain national speedway team
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.
| Great Britain | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Team captain | Tai Woffinden |
| Nation colour | Blue |
| SWC Wins | 9 |
| Squad |
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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.
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 |  Wembley |
1. 2.  3.  4.  |
Ivan Mauger (NZ) | 12 |
| Nigel Boocock | 10 | |||
| Martin Ashby | 8 | |||
| Barry Briggs (NZ) | 7 | |||
| Norman Hunter | 3 | |||
| 1971 | Wroclaw |
1. 2.  3. 4. |
Ray Wilson | 12 |
| Ivan Mauger (NZ) | 10 | |||
| Jim Airey (AUS) | 9 | |||
| Barry Briggs (NZ) | 6 | |||
| Ronnie Moore (NZ) | - | |||
| 1972 |  Olching |
1. 2. 3. 4. |
Ivan Mauger (NZ) | 11 |
| John Louis | 9 | |||
| Terry Betts | 9 | |||
| Ray Wilson | 8 | |||
| Ronnie Moore (NZ) | - | |||
| 1973 | Wembley |
1. 2. 3. 4. |
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 | Chorzow |
1. 2. 3. 4. |
Peter Collins | 12 |
| John Louis | 12 | |||
| Dave Jessup | 10 | |||
| Malcolm Simmons | 8 | |||
| Ray Wilson | - | |||
| 1975 | Norden |
1. 2. 3. 4. |
Peter Collins | 12 |
| Malcolm Simmons | 11 | |||
| Martin Ashby | 10 | |||
| John Louis | 8 | |||
| Dave Jessup | - | |||
| 1977 | Wroclaw |
1. 2. 3. 4. |
Peter Collins | 10 |
| Michael Lee | 9 | |||
| Dave Jessup | 9 | |||
| John Davis | 6 | |||
| Malcolm Simmons | 3 | |||
| 1980 | Wroclaw |
1. 2.  3. 4. |
Michael Lee | 11 |
| Chris Morton | 11 | |||
| Peter Collins | 10 | |||
| Dave Jessup | 8 | |||
| John Davis | - | |||
| 1989 | Odsal |
1. 2.  3. 4. |
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 |
World Champions 1968 (1st title) |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by |
World Champions 1971 (2nd title) 1972 (3rd title) 1973 (4th title) 1974 (5th title) 1975 (6th title) |
Succeeded by.svg.png){kind=small} |
| Preceded by |
World Champions 1977 (7th title) |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by |
World Champions 1980 (8th title) |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by |
World Champions 1989 (9th title) |
Succeeded by |
Famous British riders
References
External links
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