Nicolás Covatti (born 19 June 1988) is an Argentine and Italian

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. He rides under an Italian licence and qualifies for the Italian national team and is a seven times national champion of Italy and five times national champion of Argentina.

Biography

Born in

Coronel Pringles Coronel Pringles () is a city in the south of the Buenos Aires Province in Argentina, situated near the mountains of Pillahuincó. It is the government seat of the Coronel Pringles Partido. In 1882, the provincial government of Buenos Aires cr ...

, Argentina, Covatti first came to the attention of the speedway public when he raced in the 2012 Speedway Grand Prix of Italy and was then signed up to ride for the

Birmingham Brummies Birmingham Brummies are a British Motorcycle speedway, speedway team founded in 1928. They were inaugural members of the Southern League (1929–31), Southern League in 1929. The team have twice finished runner-up in the highest tier of Britis ...

in the Elite League just days later.Birmingham Brummies confirm Nicolas Covatti signing
,

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, 13 August 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2014 He continued to ride for Birmingham the following year in the Elite League but suffered a broken wrist while riding as a wildcard in the Italian Grand Prix and lost his place;Elite League Speedway: Nico Covatti replaces Edward Kennett at Birmingham
,

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

, 6 May 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2014 He was not included in the team for the 2014 season. After the team made a poor start to the season Covatti returned to Birmingham in May, replacing the British rider Edward Kennett. With the Brummies folding during the season, Covatti joined

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

team Sheffield Tigers in August.Sheffield speedway: Nico Covatti wants to return
, ''

Sheffield Star ''The Star'', often known as the ''Sheffield Star'', is a daily newspaper published in Sheffield, England, from Monday to Saturday each week. Originally a broadsheet, the newspaper became a tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid in 1993. ''The Sta ...

'', 11 November 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2014 Also in 2014, Covatti represented Italy in the

Speedway World Cup The Speedway World Cup is a motorcycle speedway event for national teams held in different countries. The first edition of the competition in the current format was held in 2001 and replaced the old Speedway World Team Cup, World Team Cup which ...

. He was given a wildcard entry to the GP Challenge in

Lonigo Lonigo is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, northern Italy, its population counts around 16,400 inhabitants. In its ''frazione'' of Bagnolo is the Villa Pisani (Bagnolo), Villa Pisani, a Renaissance patrician villa designed ...

, and narrowly missed out on qualification for the 2015 SGP series, finishing in 5th place. A third consecutive Italian Championship was denied in 2017 after a second place finish. In 2018, Covatti signed again for the

Ipswich Witches The Ipswich Witches are a British motorcycle 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 7.30 ...

at the beginning of the season and then later in the season, he signed for

Somerset Rebels The Somerset Rebels were a British motorcycle speedway, speedway team based in Highbridge, Somerset, Highbridge, Somerset. Founded in 2000, the club competed in the British SGB Championship until 2019. Their home track was located at the Oak Tr ...

after the controversial departure of Charles Wright. He was part of the Somerset team that won the SGB Championship Fours, which was held on 23 June 2019, at the

East of England Arena The East of England Showground is a large showground area (667,731sqm) located on East of England Way near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The Showground is owned by Bellway as of around 2019 and the site currently includes the East of E ...

. In 2023, he won his seventh individual national championship. He joined the

Plymouth Gladiators The Plymouth Gladiators are a Motorcycle speedway, speedway team in the British SGB Championship. The team competed during various seasons from 1932 to 1969, before reforming after a gap of thirty-six years in 2006. In 2021, the club successful ...

for the 2024 season but suffered a serious setback after breaking his leg and arm in the 2024 Argentinian International Speedway Championship. He did however represent Italy during the

2024 Speedway of Nations The 2024 Speedway of Nations was the sixth edition of the Speedway of Nations, and 32nd edition of a pairs competition for national teams in motorcycle speedway. The competition consisted of three events, which took place at the National Speed ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Covatti, Nicolas 1988 births Argentine speedway riders Italian speedway riders Living people Birmingham Brummies riders Expatriate speedway riders in England Sheffield Tigers riders Somerset Rebels riders People from Coronel Pringles Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province

Biography

See also

References