Leigh Lanham testimonial: the riders.

Following the announcement earlier this week of the names of the twelve riders who will compete in the Leigh Lanham Testimonial meeting at the Arena-Essex Raceway this Friday, details of the two reserves for the meeting have now been named.

Brothers, Jason and Daniel King, both of whom have appeared for the A F Stocktaking Hammers in their Premier League side in 2003, will act as reserves for the twelve riders named earlier in the week.

The interval attraction will be a display from the World famous IMPS Motorcycle Display Team. The youngsters have appeared all over this country, as well as abroad, and are planning an exciting display to put on during the course of the evening.

Immediately after the racing has concluded there will be an auction of the 14 competitors race jackets together with other items donated by riders. All the proceeds from this auction will go into Lanham's Testimonial Fund. Leigh has been a great servant to Arena-Essex Speedway and is very popular with the supporters.

It is hoped that his involvement with the Club will continue in the years to come.

Short profiles of the riders included in the 12 heat plus Semi-Final and Final are shown below in race order:-

Jason Crump - Australian, Age: 29
The 2004 World Champion, Jason was recently crowned as World Champion following the final round of this season's Grand Prix Series, which took place in Norway. He finished three points in front of Tony Rickardsson from Sweden. Jason is due to get married to Melody, his girlfriend, a couple of days after this meeting. He finished as runner-up in the 2001, 2002 & 2003 Series. He has won ten Grand Prix and is a former World U-21 Champion, Australian Champion and Australian U-16 Champion. In addition he has won the Elite League Riders Championship twice.

Shane Parker - Australian, Age: 34
Rides for Glasgow in the Premier League this season having doubled down between Peterborough and King's Lynn in 2003. Shane is one of the great showmen in the Sport and is renown for his antics at Testimonial meetings. He made his UK debut whilst racing for Ipswich in 1991. He is a former Australian U-16 Champion and has appeared for his Country on 17 occasions.

Chris Louis - British, Age: 35
Son of former Ipswich rider (and present Witches Promoter) John. He first rode speedway at the winter Hackney training school before joining them in 1988. He moved on to his present Club, Ipswich in 1989 where he has remained. He returned to the Sport this season after getting injured in 2002. Chris was World U-21 Champion in 1990 and has been British Champion on two occasions. In addition he was British Schoolboy Grass Track Champion in 1982. He appeared in two World Finals and was third in 1993. He has also ridden in 41 Grand Prix, including being a "Wild Card" this year at Cardiff. He has been in excellent form for the Witches this season.

Brent Werner - American, Age: 30
Rides for Rye House in the Premier League. Brent first rode in this Country in 1997 when he was a member of the Long Eaton side. He has also had spell with Newcastle and Workington in the Premier League. He was a member of the Elite League side Eastbourne that won the Premiership in 2001. He has appeared for his Country in three World Cups - the most successful being in 2002 when U.S.A. were runners-up.

Paul Hurry - British, Age: 29
A member of the 2004 Hammers side. He made his debut when racing for the Hammers in 1991 at the age of 16. He moved on to Peterborough in 1992, where he spent two seasons before returning to the Hammers side. He has also ridden for Eastbourne, Ipswich, King's Lynn, London, Oxford and Wolverhampton. He has won four Championship medals (two at Elite League level and two at Premier League level) and was British U-21 Champion in 1994. He has competed in eight British Finals and was a member of Great Britain's World Cup team that finished runners-up in 2001. Paul is an accomplished Grass Track rider and has won the British Masters three times (including winning the title this year). He has competed in the World Longtrack Championships for eight years and has won two rounds. He returned to the hammers side this season after missing the end of the 2003 season through an arm injury sustained whilst riding for Ipswich.

Josh Larsen - American, Age: 32
Returned to the Hammers side this season after a break of eight years. Josh made his debut for the Hammers in 1992 and stayed with the Club until 1996 when he moved to London. In 1997 he rode in the Championship winning Bradford side. He competed for Eastbourne in 1999 and then had a few outings with Belle Vue in 2003 but was delighted to get a place with the Hammers this season. He has ridden for his Country in two World Team Cup Finals and was a member of the winning American side in 1993. He won the U.S.A U-16 Championship on two occasions and has competed in nine American Finals, finishing as runner-up three times. Josh was fourth in the 1994 World Final

Scott Nicholls - British, Age: 26
Captain of the Great Britain team in this year's World Cup and a Grand Prix rider. Scott took his first rides at the age of 11 at Mildenhall on a 100cc machine. Scott made his official debut in 1994, whilst riding for Peterborough. He moved on to Ipswich the following season and has remained with them ever since, apart from the two seasons that he spent at Poole in 1999 and 2000. He was a member of the Witches side that won the League in 1998. He was the British Champion in 2002 and 2003 and the British U-21 Champion in 1998 and 1999. He has competed in 27 Grand Prix and is a former British Schoolboy Grass Track Champion.

Mark Loram - British, Age: 33
The 2000 World Champion and a member of the 2004 Arena-Essex side. Mark made his debut in the Sport in 1987 for Hackney but moved on to Ipswich in 1989. He then spent five seasons with King's Lynn before another move to him to Exeter. Since then he has ridden for Bradford, Eastbourne, Peterborough and Poole. He has ridden in 65 Grand Prix, winning two rounds but the highlight of his career, so far, was in 2000 when he won the Grand Prix Series. Mark has appeared in 10 British Finals and has won on three occasions. He was the British U-21 Champion in 1988 and has been Overseas Champion once and Commonwealth Champion also on one occasion. He has competed for his Country in eight World Cups. He has also ridden in five World Longtrack Finals and has been British Masters Grass track Champion twice and British Schoolboys Grass Track Champion twice. 2003 was an injury hit year for Mark but he has returned to top form whilst racing for the Hammers in 2004 and was Great Britain's top scorer in the World Cup.

Dean Barker - British, Age: 34
Another of the 2004 Arena-Essex side Dean started his career with Eastbourne in 1986. He has been with the Eagles for the majority of his career but had a spell with Cradley Heath in 1987 and three years (1990 to 1992) with Oxford. He moved to the Hammers prior to the start of this season. He was with the Eagles for their Two Championships, two Knockout Cup Final wins, a Premiership win, together with two League and two Cup wins, whilst they were in the 2nd Division. Dean has appeared in nine British Finals with a second place in 2003 being his best performance.

Joe Screen - British, Age: 31
The 2004 British Champion. Jo was a member of the 2004 Team Great Britain World Cup squad, scoring nine points in the opening event held at Eastbourne. However, he did not compete in the Final. He celebrated his own Testimonial Meeting earlier this season at Belle Vue, a club where he started his career back in 1989. He remained with the Manchester club for five years before moving to Bradford, where he rode for four seasons. In 1998 he returned to Belle Vue for just one year before further moves took him to Hull and Eastbourne before he returned for his third spell with the Aces part way through last season. He won the World U-21 Final in 1993, the same year as he won his second British U-21 title. In 1992 Joe was the Division 1 Riders Championship winner. This season he won his second British Final out of 13 attempts. He has appeared in 21 Grand Prix and three World Longtrack Finals. Joe has won the British Masters Grass Track title on three occasions.

Kelvin Tatum MBE - British, Age: 40
Was forced to retire from Speedway earlier this season but makes a comeback for this meeting. Kelvin has won virtually everything in the Sport during his illustrious career, except World Speedway Champion although he has appeared in seven finals. He has, however, won the Longtrack version three times and is currently leading this season's series with just one round to go, which takes place next month in New Zealand. He has appeared for his country on 74 occasions and was the last British captain to lift the World Cup back in 1989. He has raced in 11 Overseas Finals winning twice, seven Commonwealth Finals winning four times and 12 British Finals resulting in him being the Champion on two occasions. In addition he has been British Masters Grass Track Champion four times and European Grass track Champion once, in 1995. Kelvin was awarded the MBE in the 2003 New Year's Honours. He started Speedway in the winter of 1982-83 at the Hackney Training School but his first club was Wimbledon, where he rode between 1983 and 1984. In 1985 he moved to Coventry where he spent six years. He subsequently had spells with Arena-Essex, Berwick, Bradford, Eastbourne, London Poole and Peterborough. After a few years out of the Sport he returned to Arena-Essex in 2002 and made the move up with the Club to the Elite league this season.

Leigh Lanham - British, Age: 27
The reason for this meeting as Leigh has now in his 11th season in the Sport. The son of former Ipswich rider Mike Lanham, Leigh joined his hometown club back in 1993 at the age of 16. He has remained an asset of the Witches ever since although he has been put out on loan on occasions. He rode for Exeter in 1997 moving on to the Hammers the following year. He has remained a very popular member of the Arena-Essex side since then although he missed the entire 2000 season due to a broken hip, which he sustained in the opening fixture that season. Leigh was the British U-21 Champion in 1997 but in total appeared in five finals. He went on to appear in two World U-21 Finals with his best finish when he was fifth in 1998. In addition Leigh was a British Schoolboy Grass Track Champion in 1992.

Reserves:

Jason King - British, Age: 19
The elder of the racing King brothers, Jason was a member of the 2003 Hammers Premier League side. He and his brother, Daniel, were regularly seen at the Hammers Purfleet Raceway in demonstration races during the meeting intervals in the late 1990's. Jason first signed for Peterborough in 2000 where he rode in their Conference league side. His first season of Premier League racing was in 2002 when he rode for Swindon. He joined the Hammers the following year but, apart from some meetings for Rye House, he has spent this season back in the Conference League with Mildenhall.

Daniel King - British, Age: 18
Like his brother Jason, Daniel first joined Peterborough in 2001. He was subsequently purchased by Ipswich early in 2003 and rode in the Witches British League Cup team that year. He gained experience by riding in the Conference League for Peterborough and Mildenhall together with spells at Reading and Arena-Essex in the Premier League. Daniel started this season in Ipswich's Elite League side and remained with them for the whole season and despite his lack of experience at that level he proved to be a very useful reserve for them.

The 12 riders (and two reserves) who will line up in Friday's meeting are sure to put on a good show and it will be the ideal way for the Speedway fans around the Country to help Leigh Lanham celebrate his first ten years in the Sport.