Matthew Richard Bates (born 26 July 1989, in Exeter, Devon) 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

Bates began his speedway career with the

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 ...

during the

2004 Speedway Conference League The 2004 Speedway Conference League was the third-tier division of British speedway. Summary The title was won by Mildenhall Fen Tigers. Final league table Conference League Knockout Cup The 2004 Conference League Knockout Cup was the seventh ...

. The following season he rode for Plymouth Devils before joining the Oxford junior side for the

2007 Speedway Conference League The 2007 Speedway Conference League was the third tier/division of British speedway. Summary The title was won by Scunthorpe Scorpions for the second successive year. Scunthorpe also won the Knockout Cup, Conference Trophy and Conference League ...

season, following the demise of the Oxford Elite league team. He returned to Plymouth in the National League (third tier of British speedway) for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. He helped Plymouth win the National Trophy in 2009. In 2011, he rode for the Newport Hornets during the

2011 National League speedway season The 2011 season of the National League, the third tier of British speedway was contested by ten teams, with Scunthorpe & Sheffield Saints winning the play-offs to become champions. Final table PL = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; BP = ...

. He later rode for the Devon Demons in the

2014 National League speedway season The 2014 season of the National League, the third tier of British speedway was contested by nine teams. The Cradley Heathens won the title. The Isle of Wight Islanders were missing from 2012, and the Scunthorpe Stags and Devon Demons have joine ...

and then joined the Eastbourne Eagles for the

2015 National League speedway season The 2015 National League was the seventh season of the National League, the third tier of British speedway. The Cradley Heathens were the defending champions after winning the competition in 2014. Cradley finished the 2015 season in third place, ...

, where he helped the team win the knockout cup, although he did not ride in the final.

Management

After retiring from active racing in 2017 he became co promoter and team manager for the Plymouth Gladiators in the British National League.

References

Living people 1989 births Sportspeople from Exeter British speedway riders Eastbourne Eagles riders Mildenhall Fen Tigers riders Newport Wasps riders Oxford Cheetahs riders Weymouth Wildcats riders {{England-speedway-bio-stub