BRITISH CAREER: (1989) Poole; (1990-92) Swindon; (1993-95) Arena-Essex; (1996) London; (1997-98) Swindon; (1999-00) King’s Lynn; (2001-02) Oxford; (2003) Poole; (2004-09) Swindon.
Leigh Scott Adams was born in Mildura, Victoria, Australia on 28 April 1971.
MILDURA is a small fruit town, which is famous for producing an outstanding crop of speedway riders, who all cut their teeth around the Olympic Park track. They include 1980s Swindon legend Phil Crump and, of course, his son Jason.
Adams has thus far enjoyed three spells with the Robins, completing ten full seasons during which he has endeared himself to the Blunsdon patrons with his brilliant performances. Indeed, the only time he has failed to finish a season as Swindon’s leading rider occurred in 1990 – only his second year on these shores, but his debut season in top-flight British League racing.
Leigh first came to England on vacation in 1988, and actually completed four matches for Poole in the National Junior League, the first of which was at Arena-Essex on 20 August. The potential was there for all to see as he gleaned 6 points and he was to average exactly 9.00 from his holiday stint with the club.
Adams had originally been recommended to Poole by that wonderful judge of Australian talent Neil Street, and it was the Pirates he subsequently joined for their National League Championship winning season of 1989, when he rode alongside Craig Boyce, Alun Rossiter, Gary Allan, Tony Langdon and Kevin Smart, among others.
To further his career, Leigh then moved up a league to join Swindon for a reputed £20,000 plus transfer fee in time for the 1990 campaign. 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.
Adams won the first of his ten 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 on 23 August that same year.
With Swindon suffering relegation to Division Two after a difficult 1992 campaign, Leigh was to spend three years with Arena-Essex (1993-95), followed by a single season at London (1996). He then returned to Swindon in 1997, when he recorded a huge 9.96 average in the inaugural season of Elite League activity.
Adams was again on board with the Robins in 1998 and although his league average dipped slightly to 8.95, he still amassed a massive total of 418 points in the club’s cause.
With Swindon again dropping into the lower league for 1999, the super-smooth speedster found himself without a track until King’s Lynn swooped for his services at the end of April. The Aussie joined the Norfolk side as a replacement for Tomas Topinka, who had surprisingly been axed from the team by the then promotion.
Leigh also remained at the super-fast Saddlebow Road circuit for the 2000 campaign, a season when he topped the entire Elite League averages with a 10.24 figure.
In 2001, the man from Mildura linked with Oxford and, along with Todd Wiltshire, Brian Andersen, Steve Johnston, Andrew Appleton and the Dryml brothers (Ales and Lukas), he helped the Cheetahs to lift the Elite League Championship.
Renowned for his armchair style of riding, Leigh remained with Oxford in 2002, a year which also saw him help Australia to retain the British-staged Speedway World Cup, which they had won the previous year at Wroclaw, Poland. That being Leigh’s third such triumph with Australia as they had also taken glory in the 1999 World Team Cup final at Pardubice, Czech Republic.
The 2003 term saw Adams register a 9.97 league average back with Poole, and in a glorious season the Pirates scooped a terrific treble success, winning the Championship, Knock-Out Cup and British League Cup.
The year also saw him awarded a much-deserved testimonial, with his special meeting going ahead at Swindon on 31 July, when a packed Abbey Stadium paid tribute to one of the sport’s all-time true greats. Fittingly, it was Adams who went on to take victory on the night, as he defeated Jason Lyons, Joe Screen and Travis McGowan in the grand final.
Leigh returned to Swindon in 2004 and enjoyed a wonderful domestic campaign, finishing head and shoulders above everyone else in the Elite League averages on a massive 10.94 figure. Along the way, he plundered 15 maximums (12 full and 3 paid) for the Robins and also joined forces with Charlie Gjedde to take victory in the Elite League Pairs Championship.
On top of that, he established a new track record at Blunsdon on 13 May, when blistering around to win heat thirteen of the Elite League ‘A’ fixture against Poole in 64.46 seconds. Capping a fine year, on 26 September, he raced to a fourth success in the prestigious Czech Golden Helmet at Pardubice, adding to his previous wins of 1999, 2000 and 2001.
In 2005, Adams partnered record club signing Lee Richardson to the Elite League Pairs Championship at Peterborough on 27 March, as he retained the title gained with Charlie Gjedde the previous year.
Leigh also gave sterling service to the Robins, overcoming an uncharacteristic spell of engine problems to post a domestic average of 10.47, a figure sufficient to again occupy pole position in the entire Elite League.
Double figure scores were a regular feature both at the Abbey Stadium and on Swindon’s travels, culminating in a deserved and record-breaking fourth success in the Swindon Advertiser Rider of the Year poll.
On the world stage, Leigh ended his tenth season of Grand Prix activity by scooping the bronze medal in Lonigo, Italy on 10 September. Indeed, it was no less than he deserved, having been the most consistent performer in British racing for over a decade, as he finally shook off the disappointing aura of being the World No. 4 for the previous three years.
Like a fine wine, the riding of the Robins’ captain just continued to get better with age and he once again led from the front in 2006, when he was the linchpin of the Swindon side.
Whilst the Mildura-born racer didn’t enjoy the best of year’s in the Grand Prix series, his league form was unbelievably brilliant and Adams was present for all forty domestic encounters, posting a 10.58 average and recording no less than 18 maximums (6 full and 12 paid).
The ‘Sultan of Slide’ was also voted the Swindon Advertiser Rider of the Year for the third successive season. Possibly most impressive, however, was Adams’ elevation to second spot in the all-time Robins’ scoring chart, behind club legend Martin Ashby.
Adams put together another stunning season for Swindon in 2007, as the club suffered the heartache of losing out in all three major domestic finals, finishing as runners-up to Coventry in the Elite League Play-Offs, Knock-Out Cup and Craven Shield.
Having lost his Blunsdon track record to great compatriot Jason Crump 2006, Adams again became the fastest man in Swindon’s history, when he blitzed around the 363-metre circuit in 64.21 seconds in heat one of the Elite League ‘B’ encounter with Belle Vue on 2 August.
Once more, he topped the entire league averages, having accrued 450.5 points from thirty-five appearances for a 10.80 figure. This led to another Swindon Rider of the Year success and, having already held the record for winning the award on the most number of occasions, this represented a sixth such triumph, following on from his previous successes in 1991, 1992, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
Aside from that, he also came out on top of the SRA Elite League Rider of the Year poll, as revealed at the ‘Stars of Shale’ End-of-Season Party and Awards Night at the Coventry Hilton Hotel on 1 November.
Apart from his amazing scoring exploits, Adams also took his career tally of maximums for the club to 91 (47 full and 44 paid) in all competitions. Meanwhile, at the season’s end, his points total for the Robins stood at a whopping 5,030.5 from 432 appearances, leaving Martin Ashby’s 5,476.5 figure well within his sight.
On the world stage, despite celebrating his thirty-sixth birthday, the Aussie enjoyed his best-ever Grand Prix campaign, finishing second overall to Nicki Pedersen. In an altogether much more consistent GP campaign, he took victory in three rounds and completed the series with 153 points to his name.
It was announced on 5 November 2007 that Leigh had again agreed to lead the Robins for a fifth straight season in 2008. The Milduran born racer returned back to Australia during the winter months and in an attempt to allow his body to recuperate a tough season of European action, Adams opted not to compete for the Australian national title.
Fresh from his break, 2008 was another scintillating season for the dependable Australian who notched an incredible Elite League average of exactly 11.00 from a full quota of 32 matches. Once again, he finished in pole position at the head of the countrywide averages.
More impressive though was Adams’ elevation to top spot in Swindon’s all-time scoring list. Leigh’s paid maximum at Lakeside on 8 August took him on to 5,482.5 points, surpassing the previous record set by Martin Ashby who had registered 5,476.5 points during his time with the Robins.
Under his captaincy, Swindon were victorious in the Elite Shield, finished second in the Elite League Pairs Championship and reached the Elite League Play-Offs for a third successive season. And, as revealed at a packed Dinner and Dance in November, for a seventh time, Adams scooped the Swindon Advertiser Rider of the Year award.
On the Grand Prix circuit, it proved to be a year of frustration for Leigh who, despite winning two rounds in Poland (Leszno) and Sweden (Malilla), saw his overall ranking fall to sixth place. However, the Swindon skipper celebrated his 100th Grand Prix appearance in perfect style by winning the Scandinavian round of the series on Saturday 16 August.
Incredibly, having first ridden officially on these shores for Poole in 1989, Leigh has now completed 20 successive seasons of UK racing. He is already the highest scoring rider in British speedway history and, on 10 July 2008, in Swindon’s home fixture versus Belle Vue, he made his 800th official appearance in Britain. By the season’s end, he had taken his overall tally of race points to an amazing 9,933.5 from 813 matches. From these meetings, he had also recorded a total of 157 maximums (70 full and 87 paid).
In January 2009, Leigh won a record-breaking tenth Australian title after romping to victory in the third and final round of the Championship at Adelaide’s Gillman Speedway. Incredibly, he didn’t drop a point during the three-round series and won all of the eighteen races he started.
A characteristically smooth Adams rode majestically throughout the series and was rarely troubled by his opponents. In each round, the 37-year-old eased to five heat wins in the qualifying rides, before notching a comfortable tapes-to-flag victory in the final. The outcome meant that Adams is the only Australian speedway rider to have won ten national titles.
The 2009 British campaign will represent Adams’ eleventh season of racing for the Robins, adding to his previous years with the club from 1990-92, 1997-98 and 2004-08.
BIOGRAPHY BY ROBERT BAMFORD |
