Leigh Adams
Vetlanda | |
1998–1999 | Indianerna |
---|---|
2000–2008 | Masarna |
2009–2010 | Lejonen |
Denmark | |
2010 | Esbjerg |
Australian Under-21 Champion | |
1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995 | Victorian State Champion |
1994, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003 | Jack Young Solo Cup winner |
1996 | Edward Jancarz Memorial winner |
1997, 1998, 2000 | Australian Masters Series 500 Champion |
1999 | Australian Long Track Champion |
1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 | Golden Helmet of Pardubice |
2000, 2008 | Alfred Smoczyk Memorial winner |
2009 | Elite League Riders' Championship |
Team honours | |
Ekstraliga Champion | |
1992 | Australian Pairs Champion |
Leigh Scott Adams (born 28 April 1971 in
Career
Australia
Leigh Adams was a product of junior speedway in his home town of Mildura, which was also the home town of multiple Victorian and Australian champion Phil Crump who became his mentor. Adams started racing in 1979 and within a few years would prove himself as one of Australia's best junior solo riders. He finished 3rd in the 1983 Australian U/16 Championship at his home track, the Olympic Park Speedway, before finishing second in the 1985 Championship at the Sidewinders Speedway in Adelaide. Adams won the Australian Under-16 championship in 1986 at the age of 15 which was held in Mildura, before joining the senior ranks in 1987.
Adams would win the first of four Australian Under-21 Championships in 1988 at
Adams won the
Adams won his first Victorian State Championship in 1989 in Mildura in what was only his third season of senior riding, beating Phil Crump at Olympic Park. In the early days of his career, and the last of Crump's which had begun in 1970, Crump and Adams were known as "The Master and the Apprentice". Adams would also win the Victorian title in 1990 (Myrtleford), 1991 and 1992 (Mildura), 1994 (Undera) and 1995 (Mildura).
While the reigning Australian U/21 and Senior Champion in 1992, Adams went on to win the
In 1997 and 1998, Adams won the 10 Round Australian Speedway Masters Series (also known as the "Series 500"). He finished runner up in the series to Jason Crump in 1999, and the final year the series was run in 2000 he was once again the Series 500 champion.
1999 also saw Adams win the Australian Long Track Championship in Port Pirie, South Australia, making him the only rider to have won the Australian U/16 (plus Pairs), U/21, Senior (plus Pairs) and Long Track championships. Adams holds the record for most Australian Solo Championship wins with 10 and jointly holds the record for most Australian Under-21 Championship wins with 2012 World Champion Chris Holder. Both riders won the junior title on four occasions.
International
Leigh first came to England in 1988 and completed four matches for
To further his career, Leigh then moved up a league to join
In October 1995, during the Speedway Grand Prix Qualification he won the GP Challenge, which ensured that he claimed a permanent slot for the 1996 Grand Prix. He repeated the success two years later in 1997.[10]
He had a single season with the
In 2001, Adams signed for Oxford and won the Elite League Championship.[2] He remained with Oxford in 2002, which was a year in which Adams won his first Speedway Grand Prix, after claiming the 2002 Speedway Grand Prix of Scandinavia at the Ullevi in Gothenburg.[11]
The 2003 season saw Adams register a 9.97 league average back with Poole Pirates in a year which Poole won the treble; winning the League Championship, the Knock-Out Cup and the British League Cup. The year also saw him awarded a testimonial, which took place at Swindon.[7]
Adams returned to Swindon in 2004 and again finished top of the Elite League averages on 10.94 and partnered
Adams put together another successful season for Swindon in 2007, as the club finished runners-up in all three major domestic finals, being beaten by
In 2008, Adams became the Swindon Robins all-time top points scorer. His paid maximum at Lakeside in August 2008 took him onto 5,482.5 points, surpassing the previous record set by Martin Ashby who scored 5,476.5 during his time with the Robins.[12] In 2009, he won the Elite League Riders' Championship, held at Brandon Stadium on 2 October.[13]
Retirement
In 2010 Leigh Adams announced his retirement from speedway after 20 years of international competition. This along with a junior career which started in 1982 and saw him win the Australian and Victorian Under-16 Championships.
In 2011, Adams fulfilled a long-term ambition and entered the Finke Desert Race in Australia's Northern Territory near Alice Springs. On 6 June, while on a training ride with his brother and other riders, Adams crashed his motorbike into rocky terrain and sustained multiple injuries including fractured vertebrae, extensive spinal cord damage and broken ribs. He was flown from Alice Springs to Royal Adelaide Hospital where he underwent a six-hour operation to stabilise and strengthen his badly injured spine.[14][15]
In 2012–13, Adams provided television commentary for Australia's World Series Sprintcars series.
Family
In 2014, Adams' son Declan finished 3rd in the Australian Under-16 Championship at the
Career honours
- 1986 Australian Under-16 Champion, Australian Under-16 Pairs Champion
- 1988 Australian Under-21 Champion
- 1989 Victorian State Champion
- 1990 Australian Under-21 Champion & Victorian State Champion
- 1991 Australian Under-21 Champion & Victorian State Champion
- 1992 World Under-21 Champion, Australian Champion, Australian Pairs Champion, Australian Under-21 Champion (record 4th Australian U/21 Championship) & Victorian State Champion
- 1993 Australian Champion
- 1993 Commonwealth Champion
- 1994 Australian Champion
- 1994 Jack Young Memorial Cup winner & Victorian State Champion
- 1995 GP Challenge winner & Victorian State Champion
- 1996 Edward Jancarz Memorial winner
- 1997 Jack Young Memorial Cup winner
- 1997 Australian Masters Series 500 Champion
- 1998 Australian Masters Series 500 Champion
- 1998 Australian Champion & GP Challenge winner
- 1999 World Team Cup Champion, Australian Long Track Champion & Golden Helmet of Pardubice winner. For this feat, he was award the Australian Sports Medal in 2000.[16]
- 2000 Australian Champion, Australian Masters Series 500 Champion, Golden Helmet of Pardubice & Alfred Smoczyk Memorial winner
- 2001 World Cup Champion, British Elite League (Oxford), Golden Helmet of Pardubice & Jack Young Solo Cup winner
- 2002 World Cup Champion, Australian Champion, Scandinavian GP& Jack Young Solo Cup winner
- 2003 Australian Champion, British Elite League, KO Cup, British League Cup (Poole), Slovenian GP & Jack Young Solo Cup winner
- 2004 Golden Helmet of Pardubice, British Elite League Best Pairs & Swedish GP
- 2005 Australian Champion, British Elite League Best Pairs
- 2006 Australian Champion
- 2007 Swedish GP, Scandinavian GP & Latvian GP winner
- 2008 European GP, Scandinavian GP & Alfred Smoczyk Memorial winner
- 2009 Australian Champion (record 10th Australian Championship) & Elite League Riders' Champion
World final appearances
Individual World Championship
- 1993 - Pocking, Rottalstadion - 15th - 4pts
World Pairs Championship
- Ellermühle Stadium (with Todd Wiltshire) - 2nd - 41pts (16)
- 1992 - Lonigo, Santa Marina Stadium (with Craig Boyce / Shane Parker) - 7th - 10pts (4)
- 1993 - Vojens, Speedway Center (with Craig Boyce / Jason Lyons) - 6th - 13pts (7)
World Team Cup
- Holsteinring Brokstedt(with Craig Boyce) - 4th - 17pts (7)
- Polonia Bydgoszcz Stadium (with Jason Crump/ Craig Boyce) - 5th - 14pts (0)
- Svítkova Stadion (with Jason Crump / Ryan Sullivan/ Jason Lyons / Todd Wiltshire) - Winner - 40pts (14)
- 2000 - Coventry, Brandon Stadium (with Jason Crump / Ryan Sullivan / Todd Wiltshire / Craig Boyce) - 4th - 29pts (12)
World Cup
- (with Jason Crump / Todd Wiltshire / Craig Boyce / Ryan Sullivan) - Winner - 68pts (16)
- / Jason Crump / Ryan Sullivan) - Winner - 64pts (17)
- Vojens, Speedway Center (with Jason Crump / Todd Wiltshire / Jason Lyons / Ryan Sullivan) - 2nd - 57pts (15)
- Smallmead Stadium (with Travis McGowan/ Ryan Sullivan / Todd Wiltshire / Jason Crump) - 4th - 35pts (8)
- 2007 - Leszno, Alfred Smoczyk Stadium (with Ryan Sullivan / Jason Crump / Chris Holder / Davey Watt / Rory Schlein) - 3rd - 29pts (5)
- Vojens, Speedway Center (with Chris Holder / Jason Crump / Ryan Sullivan / Davey Watt) - 4th - 21pts (6)
- 2009 - Leszno, Alfred Smoczyk Stadium (with Davey Watt / Troy Batchelor/ Chris Holder / Jason Crump] - 2nd - 43pts (12)
Individual Under-21 World Championship
- Lonigo, Santa Marina Stadium - 7th - 9pts
- Speedway Stadion Pfaffenhofen- Winner - 14+3pts
Speedway Grand Prix results
Year | Position | Points | Best finish | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | 15th | 28 | 8th | |
1997 | 10th | 42 | 9th | |
1998 | 11th | 51 | 5th | |
1999 | 7th | 67 | 4th | Made 4 semi-finals but only reached final once |
2000 | 6th | 65 | 4th | |
2001 | 5th | 69 | 3rd | Third in the Danish Grand Prix |
2002 | 4th | 127 | Winner | Won the Swedish Grand Prix |
2003 | 4th | 126 | Winner | Won the Slovenian Grand Prix |
2004 | 4th | 131 | Winner | Won the Swedish Grand Prix |
2005 | 3rd | 107 | 2nd | Second in the European Grand Prix |
2006 | 5th | 106 | 3rd | Highest placed rider not to win a GP (3rd in Scandinavia) |
2007 | 2nd | 153 | Winner | Won Swedish, Scandinavian and Latvian Grand Prix |
2008 | 6th | 125 | Winner | Won European and Scandinavian Grand Prix |
2009 | 11th | 81 | 2nd |
Grand Prix wins
- 1: 2002 Speedway Grand Prix of Scandinavia
- 2: 2003 Speedway Grand Prix of Slovenia
- 3: 2004 Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden
- 4: 2007 Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden
- 5: 2007 Speedway Grand Prix of Scandinavia
- 6: 2007 Speedway Grand Prix of Latvia
- 7: 2008 Speedway Grand Prix of Europe
- 8: 2008 Speedway Grand Prix of Scandinavia
See also
References
- ISSN 1429-3285
- ^ ISBN 0-948882-81-6
- ^ "2008 Rider index" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
- ISBN 0-9552376-1-0
- ISBN 0-316-72645-1.
- ^ "Ultimate rider index, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
- ^ ISBN 0-7524-3257-5.
- ^ a b c d e f "Leigh Adams profile". Swindon Speedway. 2008. Archived from the original on 8 August 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2008.
- ^ "Screen's luck runs out". Manchester Evening News. 24 August 1992. Retrieved 9 March 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "HISTORICAL LIST OF RESULTS 1995-2013 Speedway Grand Prix - Qualifications". Speedway History. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
- ^ "Great ride turns title Ricko's way". Dorset Echo. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
- ^ "The History Man". Swindon Speedway. 2008. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2008.
- ^ "Swindon's Leigh Adams wins Elite League Riders' Championship". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
- ^ Speedway.net Press Release
- ^ ABC News
- ^ "Leigh Adams". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 30 December 2012.