Byron Anthony Bekker (born 2 July 1987, in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

) is a former

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 from South Africa, who rode in the British

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

Career

Bekker started his British racing career in 2005 with Newcastle Gems where he rode seven meetings. He was quickly offered a contract with the clubs Premier League team,

Newcastle Diamonds Newcastle Diamonds were a motorcycle speedway team that raced in the SGB Championship, every Sunday night during the season (March–October) from their home at the Newcastle Stadium on the Fossway, Byker. The Stadium, previously known as Broug ...

. However, with the Gems not having a team in the following season, he was sent to ride for

Scunthorpe Scorpions The Scunthorpe Scorpions are a speedway team in the British SGB Championship. They have raced at various times since 1972, at three different venues. History 1972–1978 The original Scunthorpe side were known as Scunthorpe Saints from 1972 ...

in the Conference League to gain further experience. He made his debut at

Sittingbourne Crusaders The Sittingbourne Crusaders were a British speedway team based in Iwade, England who raced in the Conference League. The Iwade training track was initially built in 1971 by former Hackney Hawks rider Barry Thomas whilst he was still a rider f ...

where he claimed a four ride paid maximum. The following weekend he scored eight on his home debut and five at Newport in two narrow victories. He was also three times within one point of a maximum around the Scunthorpe Raceway whilst his 8+3 points from five rides at

Stoke Spitfires The Stoke Spitfires were a British speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in S ...

helped the club to a close one-point victory. He rode in all 28 meetings that remained during the 2005 season and in the 2006 season he was the only ever-present in the side when his

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

(CMA) moved up to 6.67 from all meetings. He collected two maxima at home, against Newport and

Weymouth Wildcats The Weymouth Wildcats were a British motorcycle speedway team based in Weymouth, England, who raced in the National League (speedway), National League. The Wildcats won the first Conference League (speedway), Conference League Championship in t ...

. He scored sixteen points at the Norfolk Arena in

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

as the Scorpions won the Lincolnshire Cup against

Boston Barracudas The Boston Barracudas were a speedway team that competed from 1970 to 1987 and again from 2000 to 2008. the team were based at Boston Sports Stadium in New Hammond Beck Road, Boston, Lincolnshire. History 1970–1987 The Boston Barracudas were fo ...

. He was part of the Scunthorpe team that won the

Conference League Four-Team Championship The Conference League Four-Team Championship was an annual motorcycle speedway contest between teams competing in the tird tier of speedway in the United Kingdom (the Conference League) held from 2003 until 2008. Eight teams consisting of four r ...

, held on 18 May 2007 at

Plymouth Coliseum Plymouth Coliseum, formerly known as St Boniface Arena, is a rugby field and speedway venue in Plymouth, Devon. It is situated adjacent to the River Plym near Marsh Mills. Stadium The stadium dates back to 1982 and has hosted speedway since 20 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bekker, Byron 1987 births Living people South African speedway riders Edinburgh Monarchs riders Scunthorpe Scorpions riders Sportspeople from Johannesburg South African expatriate sportspeople in England South African expatriate sportspeople in Scotland