Tai Woffinden


Tai Woffinden is a British speedway rider. In 2013 he became World Speedway Champion and currently rides for the WTS Wrocław in the Polish Speedway Ekstraliga and Indianerna Kumla in the Swedish Elitserien. Until the end of 2014 he also rode for the Wolverhampton Wolves in the British Elite League, but announced in late 2014 that he would not be riding in Britain during 2015 in his quest to regain his World Championship.
Woffinden is the current captain of the Great Britain team that finished fourth in the 2014 Speedway World Cup Final in Bydgoszcz, Poland,in 2016 the final was held at the national speedway stadium at Belle Vue, Manchester where team GB were runners up to Poland.

Early life

He is the son of former speedway rider Rob Woffinden. Although born in England and competing as a British rider, Tai grew up in Perth, Western Australia after his parents Rob and Sue decided to move down under in 1994.

Career

Woffinden began his career in junior speedway in Perth where he won the 2006 Western Australian Under-16 title, though he unfortunately missed riding in the Australian Under-16 Championship in Adelaide.
Woffinden started his British career with the Scunthorpe Scorpions in the Conference League in 2006. When he turned sixteen years of age he made his Premier League debut for the Sheffield Tigers as a guest rider. He is an asset of Wolverhampton Wolves after he signed a full contract with the Elite League side in 2006.
2007 saw Woffinden return to Scunthorpe in the Conference League and signed on a season's loan with the Rye House Rockets in the Premier League. In August 2007 he also signed for the Poole Pirates in the Elite League to ride at reserve, sharing the spot with Rye House Rockets team-mate Steve Boxall for the rest of the season.
Woffinden signed for the Rye House Rockets again for the 2008 season. He also made his debut for Great Britain in the Speedway World Cup, impressing with a win against world class opposition. He also finished third in the British Speedway Championship. This finish qualified Woffinden to be a track reserve at the British Grand Prix but he did not have an opportunity to ride. Woffinden has agreed to ride for his parent club, the Wolverhampton Wolves, for the 2009 Elite League season.

Honours

With the Scunthorpe Scorpions in 2006 he completed a clean sweep of Conference League trophies, winning the Championship, Conference Trophy, Conference Shield and the Knockout Cup.
In 2007, Woffinden became the youngest ever rider to appear in the British Championship Final but suffered injury in a crash and had to withdraw from the meeting. In September he became the Conference League Riders Champion and then two days later won the British Under 18 Championship.
The Rockets clinched the Premier League Championship in 2007 after beating the Sheffield Tigers in the final.
Woffinden became British Under-21 Champion in 2008. The event was held at the Arena Essex Raceway, with Woffinden only dropping one point in the qualifying heats and winning the final ahead of Adam Roynon and Ben Barker. Woffinden is the first rider to hold both the British Under-18 and British Under-21 title during the same season. He was also the first rider to be the British Under 18 Champion for two consecutive seasons. On 15 April 2011 Tai Woffinden won the British Under 21 Championship, held at the Arena Essex Raceway.
After his father's death from cancer in 2010, the Rob Woffinden Classic has become one of the biggest events for speedway bikes in Western Australia. Tai won the Classic named for his late father in 2012 at the Pinjar Park Speedway in Perth.
In 2013 Woffinden won the Speedway Grand Prix series to become World Champion.
Woffinden is the 8th British rider to become World Champion and the first one to hold the British Championship and World Championship in the same year since Gary Havelock in 1992. He is also the youngest World Champion in the modern day GP competition. He also won Motorcycle News Man of the Year Award for 2013.
After dropping to 4th place in the 2014 Speedway Grand Prix season, Tai Woffinden bounced back in 2015 to regain the Speedway World Championship, becoming the first British rider to win two world individual titles since Peter Craven won his second in 1962. On the way to his second championship success, Woffinden won the Czech Republic and Scandinavian Grand Prix while finishing second in Finland, Sweden and Slovenia and third in Poland II. In 2018 Tai became the first British rider to win three individual speedway World Championships. He won four speedway Grand Prixs during the season at Horsens, Warsaw, Teterow and Torun.

Career details

World Championships

SGP Podium

  1. Prague - 1st place
  2. Gorzów - 3rd Place
  3. Terenzano - 2nd Place
  4. Daugavpils - 3rd Place
  5. Krško - 2nd Place
  6. Tampere - 2nd Place
  7. Prague - 1st place
  8. Målilla - 1st place
  9. Cardiff - 2nd place
  10. Tampere - 2nd place
  11. Prague - 1st place
  12. Malilla - 2nd place
  13. Gorzow - 3rd Place
  14. Krsko - 2nd Place
  15. Stockholm - 1st Place
  16. Warsaw - 1st Place
  17. Horsens - 3rd Place
  18. Cardiff - 2nd Place
  19. Gorzów - 2nd Place
  20. Melbourne - 2nd Place
  21. Gorzow - 1st Place
  22. Torun - 2nd Place
  23. Melbourne - 2nd Place
  24. Warsaw - 1st Place
  25. Horsens - 1st Place
  26. Cardiff - 2nd Place
  27. Gorzow - 3rd Place
  28. Teterow - 1st Place
  29. Torun - 1st Place

    SGP Finals

  30. Bydgoszcz
  31. Cardiff
  32. Horsens
  33. Krsko
  34. Prague
  35. Halistavik

    Speedway European Championship results

SEC Podium

  1. Gdańsk - 3rd Place

    SEC Finals

  2. Togliatti