Kevin Doolan (born 30 November 1980) is an Australian 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.
Biography
Born in
Shepparton
Shepparton () ( Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparton, ...
,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, Doolan first raced in Australia, finishing third in the 1996 Australian Under-16 Championship.
He began his British speedway career in 1999 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 ...
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 ...
in 2002 and Glasgow Tigers in 2003 before signing for then Premier League
King's Lynn Stars
King's Lynn Stars are a motorcycle speedway team who compete in the SGB Premiership. The nickname "Stars" comes from the defunct Norwich Stars team. The team was founded in 1965 and has been running continually since then, except for 1996 when Kin ...
as a club asset in 2004. Back home in Australia, Doolan was the winner of the 2003 and 2004 Gillman Solo Championships held at the
Gillman Speedway
Gillman Speedway (sometimes called Gillman Speedway Stadium) is a purpose built, long motorcycle speedway located in the Adelaide suburb of Gillman in South Australia. The track opened in 1998 and runs approximately 13 meetings per season fro ...
in Adelaide and also won the 2004 Jack Young Solo Cup at Gillman.
With King's Lynn he won the
Premier League Knockout Cup
The Premier League Knockout Cup was a motorcycle speedway Knockout Cup competition in the United Kingdom between 1995 and 2016, governed by the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB).
History
The teams from the Premier League, the top tier of league rac ...
in both 2005 and 2006 and the
Premier Trophy
The Major League Tournament (formerly known as the Premier Trophy) is the main domestic first-class cricket competition in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1938 and has existed under a number of different names. Matches before the 1988–89 seas ...
and the Premier League Championship in 2006. After also riding in the Elite League for
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 ...
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 ...
in 2005 and 2006 respectively, he made the move back to the top flight in 2007 with Belle Vue.
He returned to King's Lynn in 2008 and won the 2008 Jack Young Solo Cup at Gillman, before signing for
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 ...
in 2009, captaining the team in a season in which they won the
Premier League Four-Team Championship
The Premier League Four-Team Championship was a contest between teams competing in the Premier League in the United Kingdom. Eight teams are grouped into fours, with one rider from each team in each race. The winners and second place of each group ...
, but that for him was ended by a crash in September. In 2010 he returned to King's Lynn, and again his season ended early with a broken wrist sustained in July. After failing to agree terms with King's Lynn for 2011, he moved to Ipswich on a full transfer, becoming the team captain in the club's return to the Premier League. With Ipswich he won the Premier Fours for a second time in 2011. In July 2012 Doolan lost his place in the Witches team with Taylor Poole returning from injury.King, Elvin (2012) "Shock axe for Doolan", ''
Speedway Star
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 Speedway, Indiana
Types of races and race cours ...
'', 28 July 2012, p. 16 He subsequently signed for
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 ...
.
On 25 November 2012 it was announced that Doolan would 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 ...
for the 2013 Premier League season.
In 2014, Doolan signed for Berwick Bandits becoming captain in 2015 and 2016. He continued to ride for the Scottish club until his final season during the
SGB Championship 2019
The SGB Championship 2019 is the second division of Great British speedway. The season runs between March and October 2019 and consisted of 12 participating teams. The current league champions are the Workington Comets who completed an excellent ...
. He announced his retirement after the season.
World Final Appearances
Individual Under-21 World Championship
*
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
-
Vojens
Vojens (german: Woyens) is a railway town in Denmark with a population of 7,475 (1 January 2022).Speedway Center - 12th - 6pts
*
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
-
Gorzów Wielkopolski
Gorzów Wielkopolski (; german: Landsberg an der Warthe) often abbreviated to Gorzów Wlkp. or simply Gorzów, is a city in western Poland, on the Warta river. It is the second largest city in the Lubusz Voivodeship with 120,087 inhabitants (Decemb ...
,
Edward Jancarz Stadium
Edward Jancarz Stadium ( pl, Stadion im. Edwarda Jancarza) is a 15,000-capacity multi-use stadium in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland, and the home of motorcycle speedway club Stal Gorzów Wielkopolski. It is currently used mostly as a 329 m racetr ...