Ellis George Perks (born 18 March 1997) 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 England. In 2019, he became the first ever rider to win all three tiers of the British Speedway leagues in the same season; the Premiership, Championship and National League.

Family

He is the great nephew of former rider

Dave Perks David Ernest Perks (born 16 December 1951) known as Dave Perks is a former speedway rider from England. Speedway career Perks rode in the top two tiers of British Speedway from 1972 to 1987, riding for various clubs. He began a cycle speedw ...

and son of former referee Robbie Perks.

Career

Born in

Worcester, England Worcester ( ) is a cathedral city in Worcestershire, England, of which it is the county town. It is south-west of Birmingham, north-west of London, north of Gloucester and north-east of Hereford. The population was 103,872 in the 2021 Census ...

, Perks began riding

grasstrack Motorcycle Grasstrack is a form of track racing which typically, in its current form, takes place on a flat track consisting of two straights and two bends usually constructed in a field. It is one of the oldest types of motorcycle sports in the ...

at the age of 6 and took up speedway aged 10 after moving to Australia with his family in 2007.Ellis Perks Up Rockets
, Rye House Speedway, 5 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2018 He made his British speedway league debut in 2014 with

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 ...

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

team, and was signed by

Poole Pirates Poole Pirates (also known as Poole Speedway) are a motorcycle speedway team based in Poole, England, competing in the SGB Championship. The club have been the champions of the United Kingdom on ten occasions. Poole Speedway is promoted by l ...

as a club asset in 2015, riding that year in the

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 ...

for Scorpions and in the National League for

Cradley Heathens Cradley Heathens was a motorcycle speedway team from Dudley, England. The team was founded in 1947 and competed at the top level of British speedway until its closure in 1995. It was revived as Dudley Heathens in 2010, competing in the National L ...

and

Eastbourne Eagles The Eastbourne Eagles were a British speedway team, based at Arlington Stadium, near Eastbourne, England, that raced in the SGB Championship. History Speedway was initially introduced to Eastbourne in 1929. During their first league season th ...

, and in 2016 for

Plymouth Devils The Plymouth Gladiators are a speedway team in the British SGB Championship. Under several names Plymouth have competed during various seasons from 1932. The club was reformed after a gap of thirty-six years in 2006 by former St Austell Gulls r ...

and

Isle of Wight Warriors The Isle of Wight Wightlink Warriors (formerly Islanders) are a British speedway team. They last competed in the 2019 National Development League and ride their home meetings at the Smallbrook Stadium. History Isle of Wight speedway began at ...

. At the beginning of the 2017 season Perks signed for the

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 ...

. He also rode that season for

Wolverhampton Wolves Wolverhampton Wolves are a British speedway team based in Wolverhampton, England. They are sponsored by Parry's International Travel, and signed a deal with owner Dave Parry (previous speedway rider for the Wolverhampton Wolves) for the 2008 ...

Redcar Bears The Redcar Bears are a British speedway team who currently compete in the SGB Championship (middle tier of the British speedway leagues). Their major team honour to date is the SGB Championship KO Cup win in 2019 against rivals Newcastle Diamo ...

, and

Buxton Hitmen The Buxton Hitmen were a speedway team in the British National League (formerly the Conference League) from 1994 to 2018. The club stopped racing in the National League after the 2018 speedway season. History The team's inaugural season was i ...

. After failing to get a team place at the start of the 2018 season, he was signed by

Peterborough Panthers The Peterborough Panthers are a British speedway team based in Peterborough, England. They are three times champions of the United Kingdom, winning the highest level league in 1999, 2006 and 2021. History 1970–1994 The Panthers inaugural sea ...

in June as a short-term replacement for Emil Grondal, and in July returned to the Heathens team for their

National Trophy National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

campaign. In December 2018 he signed to ride for

Leicester Lions Leicester Lions are a speedway team which originally operated from 1968 until 1983.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. The club returned to speedway for the 2011 Premier League season, moving up to the Elite League ...

in the

SGB Championship The Speedway Great Britain (SGB) Championship is the second division of speedway league competition in the United Kingdom, governed by the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA). It ...

and Leicester Lion Cubs in the National League for the 2019 season. He also signed for

Swindon Robins The Swindon Speedway team, also known as the Swindon Robins, are an English motorcycle speedway team established in 1949 that have competed primarily in the top division of speedway league competition in the United Kingdom. They are five times l ...

in the

SGB Premiership The Speedway Great Britain (SGB) Premiership is the top division of speedway league competition in the United Kingdom, governed by the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB) in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA). It was int ...

. He went on to win all three leagues with these teams in 2019, the first ever rider to achieve this. He also won the SGB Premiership Supporters Cup with the Robins, the Championship Shield with the Lions and National League Knockout Cup with the Lion Cubs in the same year.Double Double Completed!
, leicesterspeedway.com, 29 October 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perks, Ellis 1997 births Living people British speedway riders Plymouth Devils riders Redcar Bears riders