Ricky Wells (born 27 July 1991 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, New Zealand), is an American international motorcycle speedway rider. He was the 2009 USA National Champion and a two time U.S. Under 21 National Champion. He has been an international rider for the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in the

Speedway World Cup The Speedway World Cup is an annual speedway event held each year in different countries. The first edition of the competition in the current format was held in 2001 and replaced the old World Team Cup which ran from 1960 until 2000. The last ed ...

US National Championship

On 19 September 2009 Ricky won the United States Individual Speedway Championship, winning all of his heat races and the main event. He became the youngest rider to ever win that event. He was victorious over former US Champions like,

Billy Janniro Billy Mitchell Janniro (born 30 July 1980 in Benicia, California, United States) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from the United States. Career Billy "The Kid" Janniro rode for the Coventry Bees and Peterborough Panthers in the British L ...

, Bobby Schwartz, Charlie Venegas, Chris Manchester, Mike Faria and Josh Larsen.

World U21

Wells made his first appearance in the World Under 21 Championships in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

by winning the 2007 U.S. Under 21 National Championship. He scored 9 points in Qualifying Round 1 held in

Norden, Germany Norden (East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Nörden'') is a town in the district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the North Sea shore, in East Frisia. Town and land use Norden consists of the town itself and ten official subdi ...

which qualified him to move onto Semi-Final Round 1 held in Rye House. Only scoring 6 points which did not qualify him to move onto The Final Round. Wells came home and won the 2008 U.S. Under 21 National Championship also which placed him in the 2009 World Under 21 Championships. Scoring 9, and beating off Pawel Zmarzlik and Kozza Smith in a race-off, in Qualifying Round 3 held in Rye House moved him into Semi-Final 2 held in

Kumla Kumla is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Kumla Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with a population of 21,640 as of 2018. Geography Kumla is situated roughly 15 kilometres south of neighbouring city Örebro, and is connected t ...

. In Kumla, Ricky scored 5 and again was in a race-off situation, in which he beat

Justin Sedgmen Justin Maxwell Sedgmen (born 17 February 1992) is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider. Career Junior career Born in Mildura, Victoria, Justin Sedgmen and his older brother Ryan (born December 1990) began their speedway careers at Mildura ...

and Patrik Pawlaszczyk to securing a reserve spot in the Final held in

Goričan Goričan ( hu, Muracsány) is a municipality in Međimurje County, Croatia. Goričan is the only village belonging to the municipality. Its population in the 2011 census was 2,823. Of the entire population, 2,763 people identified themselves as Cr ...

. Through the injury off Przemyslaw Pawlicki, Wells was awarded a place in the main line-up of the Final, where he scored 2 points, finishing in 16th place, ahead of

Ludvig Lindgren Ludvig Lindgren (born 23 September 1990 in Örebro, Sweden) is a motorcycle speedway rider. Career Lindgren won the 2008 Team U-19 European Champion title. He was a member of Sweden U-21 and U-19 national teams. His brother Fredrik also ride ...

British speedway

Wells rode for Elite League

Coventry Bees Coventry Bees were a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon near Coventry, England. History A Coventry team was first formed in 1928 and competed in the inaugural season of the Souther ...

in 2009 and for the Stoke Potters 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 Fo ...

in 2010 on loan from Coventry. In 2011 he rode for the Elite Shield-winning

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 20 ...

team in the Elite League and

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 ...

in the Premier. He has remained with Wolves since, while riding for

Sheffield Tigers The Sheffield 'Tru Plant' Tigers are a motorcycle speedway team based in Sheffield, England. They currently race in the British SGB Premiership, and their home meetings take place at Owlerton Stadium. The Tigers traditionally hold their race ...

in the Premier League since 2012. In 2022, he rode for the

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 the

SGB Championship 2022 The 2022 SGB Championship season is the 75th season of the second tier of British Speedway and the 5th known as the SGB Championship. Summary Eleven clubs competed in the Championship in 2022, with Oxford returning to the sport after a 15 year ab ...

Honours

World Championships

* Team World Championship (

) ** '' 2009 - 4th place in the

Qualifying Round 2 Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

'' * Individual Under-21 World Championship ** ''

- 12th placed in the Semi-Final One'' ** 2009 -

- 16th place (2 pts)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Ricky 1991 births Living people American speedway riders New Zealand expatriates in the United States Coventry Bees riders Stoke Potters riders Plymouth Devils riders Sheffield Tigers riders Wolverhampton Wolves riders