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 Simon Trevor Stead (born 25 April 1982) is a British speedway team manager and former rider. Career Summary Born in Sheffield, Stead started his career at local track Sheffield Tigers before riding for Buxton Hitmen, Peterborough Panthers an ...

, and captained by the 2018 Speedway World Champion

Tai Woffinden Tai Woffinden (born 10 August 1990) is a British speedway rider. He is a three-time World Champion (2013, 2015 and 2018). Early life Woffinden was born in Scunthorpe, the son of former speedway rider Rob Woffinden. Although born in the Unite ...

Speedway World Cup

The England national speedway team has won the

Speedway World Team Cup The Speedway World Team Cup was an annual motorcycle speedway, speedway event held each year in different countries. The competition started in 1960 and was replaced with the Speedway World Cup in 2001. Format From 1960 until 1985 each team cons ...

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 Malcolm Simmons (20 March 1946 – 25 May 2014) was a British speedway rider. Career Simmons was born in Tonbridge, Kent. After starting in second-half races at New Cross, he made his Provincial League debut at Hackney Hawks in 1963 aged se ...

(four wins),

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

-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 Mark Roysten Gregory Loram (born 12 January 1971) is a former British motorcycle speedway rider who won the World Speedway Championship in 2000 and won the British Championship in 1997, 1999, and 2001. Career Born in Mtarfa, Malta, Mark Lo ...

fell in a race-off, and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

where a team of

, Lee Richardson, Gary Havelock, David Norris and Scott Nicholls missed out by one point. Both narrow defeats were at the hands of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

and both in somewhat controversial fashion. Prior to 1974, the Great Britain team often consisted of riders from other

Commonwealth Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

including

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

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

, 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 The Speedway of Nations is a speedway event for national teams, held each year in a different country. The first edition of the competition in the current format took place in 2018, replacing the Speedway World Cup on the international calendar. ...

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 The National Speedway Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium on Kirkmanshulme Lane, in Gorton, Manchester, England and is the home of the Belle Vue Aces and Belle Vue Colts speedway teams and the Manchester Titans American football team. Origi ...

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 Craig William Cook (born 21 May 1987) is a British speedway rider. Career Born in Whitehaven, Cook's speedway career began in 2008. In 2009 Cook won the National League Riders Championship and three years later won the Premier League Riders ...

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. At the 2021 Speedway of Nations Event in Manchester UK. Speedway Team GB ended 32 years of hurt in the hunt for gold. They first beat Denmark 6-3 (Finishing in 1st and 3rd), in the Grand Final Qualifier after finishing 3rd overall on 64 points after 2 days racing. They then went on to beat Poland in the Grand Final on a 5-4 heat advantage, (Coming 2nd and 3rd) this then secured Team GB the gold medal.

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

Wins as England

U-21 Speedway World Cup

Titles

Famous British riders

Jim Airey James Sydney Airey (born 19 August 1941 in Earlwood, New South Wales) is a former Australian international motorcycle speedway rider who rode in the 1971 World Final in Göteborg, Sweden and was a member of the Great Britain team that won the ...

Dan Bewley Daniel Bewley (born 10 May 1999) is a British international speedway rider. Career Bewley started riding for the Belle Vue Colts and as a reserve for the Edinburgh Monarchs in 2017. In 2017, he won the National League Riders' Championship befo ...

* Eric Boocock *

Nigel Boocock Nigel Boocock (17 September 1937 – 3 April 2015) was a British speedway rider who appeared in eight Speedway World Championship finals and was a reserve in one other (1962). Career Born in Wakefield, England, Boocock started his career with ...

* Barry Briggs * Kenny Carter * Les Collins * Peter Collins *

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

Peter Craven Peter Theodore Craven
, fansite biography by Jim Blanchard. (accessed 12 July 2006). (21 June 1934 – 2 ...

* Chris Harris * Gary Havelock * Dave Jessup * Robert Lambert * Eric Langton * Michael Lee *

Chris Louis Christopher Louis (born 9 July 1969) is an English international speedway motorcycle rider who rode for the Ipswich Witches and Hackney Kestrels. He is the son of former Great Britain International John Louis. Career Louis is former school ...

* John Louis * Ivan Mauger *

Ken McKinlay John Robert Vickers (Ken) McKinlay (7 June 1928 – 9 February 2003) was an international speedway rider, captaining Scotland, England, Great Britain and Europe teams. He also finished on the rostrum of the British Speedway Championship fina ...

Ronnie Moore Ronald David Moore (born 29 January 1953) is an English football manager and former player. He has taken charge of several clubs including Rotherham United, Tranmere Rovers and Hartlepool United. He played for many different clubs in a car ...

* Chris Morton * Scott Nicholls * Tommy Price * Lee Richardson * Joe Screen *

* Kelvin Tatum *

* Simon Wigg * Ray Wilson *

Bert Harkins Robert Pearson "Bert" Harkins (born 15 April 1940) is a Scottish former motorcycle speedway rider. Biography His father a fireman, he was born in the Govan Fire Station in 1940. Harkins was initially a star of cycle speedway who represented Sc ...

References

External links

BSPA Website
{{Speedway national teams National speedway teams Speedway Speedway in the United Kingdom