Joseph Louis Jacobs (born 14 August 1993) 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.

Career

Born in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

, Jacobs began riding motorcycles at the age of four, and took up speedway as a junior, riding for Rye House in the Academy League in 2008, finishing as runner up in the British Under-15 Championship that year.Rider Index
, speedwaygb.co. Retrieved 26 March 2014 He made his senior debut in 2009 with

Mildenhall Fen Tigers The Mildenhall Fen Tigers are a British speedway team, founded in 1975 and currently riding in the National Development League. History 1971–1989 The original track was built in 1971 on farm land owned by Terry Waters, with chef Bernie Klat ...

in the

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 ...

, moving to

Rye House Cobras 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 ...

in 2010 after the Fen Tigers closed early in the season. That year he finished as runner up (to

Brendan Johnson Brendan Van Johnson (born June 24, 1975) is an American attorney who served as the 40th United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota. He is the son of former U.S. Senator Tim Johnson and currently is a partner at Robins Kaplan LLP, a ...

) in the British Under-18 Championship. He returned to the Fen Tigers in 2011 and was part of the Mildenhall team that won the National League Fours, held on 26 August 2012 at

Loomer Road Stadium Loomer Road Stadium is a former sports stadium situated in Chesterton, Staffordshire. The building had considerable parking facilities, covered terracing and a bar with a view of the track. It had a capacity of 5,000. The stadium was constructe ...

. He signed for the newly formed

Coventry Storm Coventry Bees were a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name *Brandon (surname), a surname with several ...

in 2013.Carpenter, Steve (2012)
Joe Jacobs set to lead Bees National League side
", ''

Coventry Observer The ''Coventry Herald'', ''Coventry Herald and Observer'' or the ''Coventry Herald and Free Press'' was a newspaper that was established in 1808 by Alderman Nathaniel Merridew, a ribbon warehouseman and Congregationalist, in Coventry, England a ...

'', 18 December 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2014 He also rode 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 ...

in 2013 for Glasgow Tigers. In 2014, he rode in all three British Leagues, riding for

(NL),

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 ...

then

Workington Comets The Workington Comets are a British speedway club, based in Workington, Cumbria, racing out of the Northside Training Track. The team previously operated from 1970 to 2018 and were based at Derwent Park Stadium which they shared with Workington ...

(PL), and

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 ...

( Elite League). Joe took a year out of the sport in 2015 but returned in 2016 after being offered an Elite League place with

Belle Vue Aces The Belle Vue Aces are a British motorcycle speedway, speedway club, based in Manchester. The club hold the record of having won the top tier List of United Kingdom speedway league champions, League championship 13 times. They currently compete ...

. Following a successful 28-day contract with National League

Isle of Wight Islanders 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 ...

as injury cover Joe was signed by Premier League

Ipswich Witches The Ipswich Witches are a British speedway club based at Foxhall Stadium near Ipswich, Suffolk. They compete in the British SGB Premiership. Meetings are staged on most Thursdays from March until October, normally commencing at 7.30pm (first ra ...

in June 2016. After failing to secure team places for 2017 (although he had a short-term contract mid-season with

Berwick Bandits The Berwick Bandits are a British speedway club, based in Berwick-upon-Tweed. They currently compete in the SGB Championship, racing at Shielfield Park, with home matches usually taking place on Saturday evenings. They also run a second team in ...

) and 2018, he announced his retirement from the sport in January 2018.Joe Jacobs Announces Retirement
, worldspeedway.com, 7 January 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Joe 1993 births Living people English motorcycle racers British speedway riders Mildenhall Fen Tigers riders Rye House Cobras riders Coventry Storm riders Glasgow Tigers riders Wolverhampton Wolves riders