Andrew George Silver (born 13 January 1967 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England) is a former international

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

rider who represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at test level.

Family

His father is former rider and speedway promoter

Len Silver Len Silver (born 2 February 1932, east London, United Kingdom) is a former speedway rider and is former promoter of the Rye House Rockets. Racing career Silver stopped racing in 1957 but returned to the Ipswich Witches in 1960 after a layoff du ...

Career

Silver took his first rides in 1983 at father Len's Rye House circuit, making rapid progress from reserve to heat leader in three years. When Len, decided to sell his interest in the Rockets, Andrew was widely expected to make the move into top flight British League racing - so it was a shock when he moved across to the Arena Essex Hammers for a reported £9,000. He was capped by England at senior level, qualified for successive British Finals from 1986 to 1989, with a best place finish of seventh. He also recorded an average of 10.66 during the

1987 National League season In 1987 the National League, also known as British League Division Two, was the second tier of speedway racing in the United Kingdom. Team changes Glasgow Tigers were without a home so they joined the 1987 season based at Workington's Derwent P ...

for Arena Essex. Silver also enjoyed individual success during his tenure with the Hammers, winning the

National League Riders' Championship The National League Riders' Championship is an annual motorcycle speedway contest between the top riders (or two riders) with the highest average points total from each club competing in the third tier league in the United Kingdom. The same form ...

in 1987, held on 12 September at

Brandon Stadium Brandon Stadium, also known as Coventry Stadium, is located 6 miles east of Coventry in Brandon, Warwickshire, England. It was the home of the Coventry Bees motorcycle speedway team. It also hosted BriSCA F1 Stock Car Racing on the 1st Satur ...

, to add to the Grand Slam title he won earlier that year at Oxford. In 1988, Andrew moved into top flight racing, signing for British League Swindon. His career stuttered from this point on and despite four seasons in Robins' colours he failed to live up to expectations. He moved to Eastbourne in 1992 and was joined by his father in 1993 before retiring at the start of the 1994 season. He retired from speedway early to take up a post in his father's

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...

holiday company. After a long break from the sport, Silver made a successful comeback as a member of the 2009

Rye House Rockets The Rye House Rockets were a speedway team based at Rye House Stadium, Hoddesdon, England. They competed in various British speedway leagues from 1954 to 2018. History Rye House began life in 1934 hosting open meetings. Whilst at Hackney in 1 ...

team in the Premier League and scored a six-ride maximum for the Rockets in their victory over Stoke on 2 September 2009. At the end of the 2009 season, Silver retired once again.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver, Andrew 1967 births Living people British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Cradley Heathens riders Eastbourne Eagles riders Lakeside Hammers riders Oxford Cheetahs riders Rye House Rockets riders Swindon Robins riders