Chris Harris (speedway rider)

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**Chris Harris**

Born:	November 28, 1982 Truro, England
Occupation:	Speedway Rider
Website:	http://www.chrisharrisracing.co.uk

Christopher Calvin "Chris" Harris (born 28 November 1982) in Truro, Cornwall^[1], nicknamed Bomber, is a British International Motorcycle speedway rider with the Coventry Bees in the United Kingdom.^[1]

1 Career history
- 1.1 Early career
- 1.2 Elite League progress & International debut
2 Speedway Grand Prix results
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Career history

[edit] Early career

Chris Harris began his racing career at the age of six and a half by competing in grass-track events. His talents quickly became apparent when he began to win all of the junior age groups in the South-West area.

In 1998, aged 15, Chris progressed to speedway racing for the St. Austell Gulls at Amateur conference league level. His inaugural season proved to be extremely successful when he helped his team win the ‘league’ and ‘cup’ double.

On his 16th birthday, Chris signed for the Exeter Falcons, who operated in the Premier League, the middle tier of British speedway’s three-league structure. Unfortunately, during the same year, he lost his father, who was not only his driver but also his mentor. Whilst this was a severe blow, Chris persevered in the pursuit of his dream. He achieved his first notable individual success later that year, when he became ‘Under-16 Champion of Great Britain’.

His greatest achievement of this stage came when he was chosen to represent England at both under-19 and under-21 level, the first Cornishman in the history of speedway to reach that high accolade. True to form, his England career was started with a race win!

In 2000, Chris was able to build on his successful debut season and more than doubled his previous year’s points total, being unbeaten by an opponent in several matches. Helped by his good form, the Exeter team finished the season as Premier League Champions and reached two cup finals and one semi-final. Once again, Chris swept the board at the end of season awards, winning the very prestigious title of ‘Most Entertaining Rider of the Season’.

Chris moved clubs for the 2001 season, joining the Trelawny Tigers in Cornwall. He soon became their top scorer and qualified for the World Under-21 final as first reserve. He continued his form into 2002, being made club captain. Once again, he was top scorer for the club and under his captaincy Trelawny Tigers won the prestigious ‘Premier Trophy’.

[edit] Elite League progress & International debut

Taking advantage of new rules introduced to assist young British riders, Chris also took the step up to ride in the Elite League in 2002, with Peterborough. He progressed well during his debut Elite League season, moving up into the main body of the team. Individually, he progressed to the Final of the Championship of Great Britain and finished fourth in the World Under-21 Championship.

Whilst 2002 was a successful year, 2003 was even better! On the team front, Chris was once again able to ride for Trelawny Tigers in the Premier League and Peterborough Panthers in the Elite League. By the end of the season, he was an Elite League heat-leader.

However, it was on the individual front Chris was most successful in 2003. In the World Under-21 Championship, he was victorious in both his quarter and semi final rounds, progressing to the final in Sweden. In the final itself he finished runner up, just one point behind the eventual winner. Chris described his result as ‘an amazing achievement for my career and one I’ll always remember’.

On the back of his tremendous form during 2003, Chris was invited to take part as a reserve in the third round of the 2003 FIM Individual Speedway World Championship, the British Grand Prix, held at Cardiff’s magnificent Millennium Stadium (with number 31).

In 2006 Chris is enjoying his best season to date in his career holding down team places in the top tier of the British, Swedish and Polish Leagues as well as qualifying for the Grand Prix Qualification Final and earning selection for the Great Britain World Cup team.

Re-produced with permission from [www.chrisharrisracing.co.uk]

It has been announced that Chris has been selected to ride as a permanent wild card in the 2007 Speedway Grand Prix series. He will be riding at number 15.

[edit] Speedway Grand Prix results

Year	Position	Points	Best Finish	Notes
2003	46th	1	23rd	1 wild card ride at British GP

2007 Speedway Grand Prix riders
(1) Crump \| (2) Hancock \| (3) N. Pedersen \| (4) Jonsson \| (5) Adams
(6) Andersen \| (7) Žagar \| (8) Gollob \| (9) Hampel \| (10) Lindbäck
(11) Nicholls \| (12) B. Pedersen \| (13) Jaguś \| (14) Holta \| (15) Harris