Russell Wade Harrison (born 11 October 1981 in Elizabeth,

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

) 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 clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider.

Career summary

Harrison won the Australian Under-16 Championship in 1995 in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and again in 1997 at his home track in Adelaide ( Sidewinders Speedway), before going on to be the Australian Under-21 Champion in 2001, winning again at home in Adelaide, this time at the Gillman Speedway. In 2002 he was third in the Australian Under-21 Championship at Gillman behind winner Travis McGowan and second placed Cameron Woodward. Harrison also won the South Australian Championship in 2003 Gillman. As of 2015, Harrison's 2003 win was the last time a South Australian born rider has won the SA Championship (Adelaide based, but Darwin born Rory Schlein would win the title from 2004-2007). Harrison made his debut in British speedway in 2001 riding for Glasgow Tigers. In 2001 he joined Workington Comets where he stayed for three seasons, before moving to

Edinburgh Monarchs The Edinburgh Monarchs are a Scottish speedway team based in Armadale. They compete in the SGB Championship, racing on Friday nights during the speedway season. The club is run by a board of directors, chaired by Alex Harkess and also runs a ...

in 2005. In 2005, he also rode as a reserve for Belle Vue Aces in the Elite League at number seven. He moved back to Workington in 2006, after apparently refusing to take his last two rides for Edinburgh during rain soaked meeting against Rye House Rockets on 7 July 2006, He was part of the Workington four who won the Premier League Four-Team Championship, held on 7 October 2006, at Derwent Park. He rode for Stoke Potters in 2007. In September 2007, Harrison decided to retire from speedway after being affected by the serious injuries suffered by team-mate Garry Stead. This followed a poor run of form when he had already decided to stop riding that season, saying, "I just haven't got going at all and I feel I have been letting too many people down" said the Australian. You are a danger to yourself and others when your head is not right and it's best that I stand down now before anything else happens." However, in early 2008 the King's Lynn Stars signed Harrison for the 2008 season. He rode for Glasgow Tigers and Birmingham Brummies in 2009, and rode for Workington Comets between 2010 and 2012. He quit the Comets in June 2012 due to family and work commitments, but towards the end of 2012 signed for the Comets again to ride in 2013.Comets Hero Rusty Agrees Stunning Speedway Return
, ''Times & Star'', 7 December 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2012 His last season was in 2015 for Workington.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Russell Wade 1981 births Living people Australian speedway riders Motorcycle racers from Adelaide Belle Vue Aces riders Edinburgh Monarchs riders Glasgow Tigers riders Australian expatriate speedway riders in Scotland King's Lynn Stars riders Australian expatriate speedway riders in England Stoke Potters riders Workington Comets riders Sportsmen from South Australia 21st-century Australian sportsmen