Leigh Adams

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This article is about the speedway rider. For the Australian rules footballer, see Leigh Adams (Australian rules footballer).

Personal Information
Leigh Adams

Nationality	Australia
Date of birth	April 28, 1971 (1971-04-28) (age 37)
Place of birth	Mildura, Australia
Current Club Information
British League	Swindon Robins
Polish League	Unia Leszno
Swedish League	Masarna
Career History
Great Britain Swindon Robins Oxford Cheetahs King's Lynn Stars London Lions Arena-Essex Hammers Poole Pirates Poland Lublin WTS Wrocław Unia Leszno Sweden Elit Vetlanda Indianerna Masarna		1990-1992, 1997-1998, 2004- 2001-2002 1999-2000 1996 1993-1995 1989, 2003 1991-1992, 1994-1995 1993 1996- 1995-1996 1998-1999 2000-
Individual Honours
World Under-21 Champion Australian Champion Scandinavian Grand Prix Winner Slovenian Grand Prix Winner Swedish Grand Prix Winner Latvian Grand Prix Winner	1992 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2000 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 2002, 2007 2003 2004, 2007 2007
Team Honours
World Cup Winner Elite League Champion Elite League KO Cup Winner Elite League Pairs Winner British League Cup Winner Elite Shield Winner Ekstraliga Champion	1999, 2001, 2002 2001, 2003 2003 2004, 2005 2003 2008 2007

Leigh Scott Adams (born April 28, 1971 in Mildura, Australia)^[1] is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider. He is a multiple Speedway Grand Prix winner and World Team Champion.^[2]

1 Career Summary
2 Career honours
3 Speedway Grand Prix results
4 References
5 External Links

[edit] Career Summary

Leigh first came to England in 1988 and completed four matches for Poole in the National Junior League, the first of which was at Arena-Essex on 20 August. He showed potential as he scored 6 points and he was to average 9.00.^[3]

Adams had originally been recommended to Poole their by Australian team manager Neil Street, and it was Poole he subsequently joined for their National League Championship winning season of 1989, when he rode alongside Craig Boyce, Alun Rossiter, Tony Langdon and Kevin Smart, among others.^[4]

To further his career, Leigh then moved up a league to join Swindon for the 1990 season. He made his Robins’ debut when scoring 8+2 points from six rides against Oxford in a Gold Cup match at Blunsdon on 24 March.^[3]

Adams won the first of his nine Australian national titles in 1992, and also captured the World Under-21 Championship after beating Mark Loram in a title run-off at Pfaffenhofen, Germany.^[1]

With Swindon relegated to the British League Division Two after the 1992 season, Leigh moved on to spend three years with Arena-Essex (1993-95), followed by a single season at London in 1996. He then returned to Swindon in 1997, when he recorded a big 9.96 average in the inaugural season of the Elite League.^[3]

Adams was again back with the Robins in 1998 but with Swindon again dropping into the lower league for 1999, he left Swindon and signed for the King's Lynn Stars.

Adams remained at King’s Lynn for the 2000 campaign, a season when he topped the Elite League averages with a 10.24 figure.^[4]

In 2001, Adams signed for Oxford and, along with Todd Wiltshire, Brian Andersen, Steve Johnston, Ales Dryml and Lukas Dryml amongst others, he helped Oxford win the Elite League Championship.^[1]

Leigh remained with Oxford in 2002 and the 2003 season saw Adams register a 9.97 league average back with Poole in a year which the Pirates won the treble, winning the Championship, Knock-Out Cup and British League Cup. The year also saw him awarded a testimonial, which took place at Swindon on 31 July.^[3]

Leigh returned to Swindon in 2004 and enjoyed a succesful domestic campaign, finishing above everyone else in the Elite League averages on 10.94. Along the way, he scored 15 maximums (12 full and 3 paid) for the Robins and also partnered Charlie Gjedde to victory in the Elite League Pairs Championship.^[3]

In 2005, Adams partnered new Swindon signing Lee Richardson to the Elite League Pairs Championship at Peterborough on 27 March, retaining the title gained with Charlie Gjedde the previous year.^[4]

On the world stage, Leigh ended his tenth season of Grand Prix activity with his highest ever ranking by winning the bronze medal in Lonigo, Italy on 10 September after being the World No. 4 for the previous three years.^[4]

Adams put together another successful season for Swindon in 2007, as the club finished runners-up in all three major domestic finals, being beaten by Coventry in the Elite League Play-Offs final, Knock-Out Cup and Craven Shield.^[4]

On the world stage the Australian completed his best ever Grand Prix campaign, finishing second overall to Nicki Pedersen.^[4] In a very consistent Grand Prix campaign, he took victory in three rounds and completed the series with 153 points.

[edit] Career honours

1992 World Under-21 Champion, Australian Champion & Australian Longtrack Champion
1993 Australian Champion
1994 Australian Champion
1995 GP Challenge
1998 Australian Champion & GP Challenge
1999 World Team Cup Champion & Czech Golden Helmet Champion
2000 Australian Longtrack Champion, Czech Golden Helmet Champion & Australian Champion
2001 Speedway World Cup, British Elite League (Oxford), & Czech Golden Helmet Champion
2002 Scandinavian GP, Speedway World Cup & Australian Champion
2003 British Elite League, KO Cup, British League Cup (Poole), Slovenian GP & Australian Champion
2004 Czech Golden Helmet Champion, British Elite League Best Pairs, & Swedish GP
2005 Australian Champion, British Elite League Best Pairs
2006 Australian Champion

[edit] Speedway Grand Prix results

Year	Position	Points	Best Finish	Notes
1996	15th	28	8th
1997	10th	42	9th
1998	11th	51	5th
1999	7th	67	4th	Made 4 semi-finals but only reached final once
2000	6th	65	4th
2001	5th	69	3rd
2002	4th	127	Winner	Winner in Gothenburg
2003	4th	126	Winner	Won Slovenian GP
2004	4th	131	Winner	Won in Sweden
2005	3rd	107	2nd
2006	5th	106	3rd	Highest placed rider not to win a GP
2007	2nd	133	Winner	Won Swedish GP in Eskilstuna, Scandinavian GP in Malilla and Latvian GP in Daugavpils

2007 Speedway Grand Prix - 2nd place

	Grand Prix	Pos.	Pts.	Heats	Draw No
Final Championship standings:		2nd	153	Riding No (5)
1 /11	Italian SGP	5	12	(2,2,1,3,3) +1	14
2 /11	European SGP	6	10	(2,3,2,X,3) +0	5
3 /11	Swedish SGP	1	21	(3,3,2,3,1) +3 +3	15
4 /11	Danish SGP	3	18	(2,3,3,2,3) +3 +1	12
5 /11	British SGP	4	14	(1,2,3,3,2) +3 +0	14
6 /11	Czech Rep. SGP	8	8	(2,2,2,2,0) +0	12
7 /11	Scandinavian SGP	1	19	(2,3,2,2,1) +3 +3	5
8 /11	Latvian SGP	1	22	(2,2,3,3,3) +3 +3	12
9 /11	Polish SGP	7	9	(3,1,1,0,3) +1	3
10 /11	Slovenian SGP	6	9	(3,3,1,0,2) +0	10
11 /11	German SGP	4	11	(0,3,1,1,3) +3 +0	5

2008 Speedway Grand Prix

	Grand Prix	Pos.	Pts.	Heats	Draw No
Final Championship standings:				Riding No (2)
1 /11	Slovenian SGP	14	5	(0,2,3,0,0)	4
2 /11	European SGP	1	20	(2,3,0,3,3) +3 +6	9
3 /11	Swedish SGP
4 /11	Danish SGP
5 /11	British SGP
6 /11	Czech Rep. SGP
7 /11	Scandinavian SGP
8 /11	Latvian SGP
9 /11	Polish SGP
10 /11	Italian SGP
11 /11	German SGP

	permanent speedway rider
	wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve
	rider notclassify (track reserve who not started)

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c Oakes, P.(2004). British Speedway Who's Who. ISBN 0-948882-81-6
^ Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Bamford, Robert; Shailes, Glynn (2004). 50 Poole Pirates Greats. Tempus Publishing, 9-11. ISBN 0-7524-3257-5.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Leigh Adams profile. Swindon Speedway (2008). Retrieved on 2008-06-06.

[edit] External Links

2008 Speedway Grand Prix riders
(1) N. Pedersen	(2) Adams	(3) Crump	(4) Gollob	(5) Andersen
(6) Hancock	(7) Holta	(8) Nicholls	(9) Harris	(10) Jonsson
(11) B. Pedersen	(12) Iversen	(13) L. Dryml	(14) K. Kasprzak	(15) Lindgren

v • d • e Swindon Robins Squad 2008 (British Elite League)

Leigh Adams (c) • James Wright • Travis McGowan • Troy Batchelor • Theo Pijper • Mads Korneliussen • Sebastian Alden Manager/Co-Promoter: Alun Rossiter