Sam Masters

Sam Masters
Personal information
Nationality  Australia
Date of birth 23 May 1991
Place of birth    Newcastle, New South Wales
Current club information
British league Edinburgh Monarchs
Career history
Somerset Rebels
King's Lynn Stars
Edinburgh Monarchs
2007–2012
2011
2014–
Individual honours
Premier League Riders Champion
New South Wales State Champion
Scottish Open Champion
Victorian State Champion
2011
2012
2014
2015
Team honours
Premier League Pairs 2014

Samuel Peter "Sam" Masters (born 23 May 1991) is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider who won the Premier League Riders' Championship in 2011.

Career

Masters was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.[1] He began racing at the age of six, initially in dirt-track races, but at the age of eleven followed his uncle and cousins into speedway.[1] After winning the New South Wales Under-16 championship in four consecutive years, and also the Australian under-16 title, he moved into senior competition in 2007. He also represented Australia in the FIM Youth Gold Cup in 2006 and 2007.[2] He signed a contract with Polish team Gorzow, but did not ride competitively for them.[2] In 2009 he was signed by Premier League team the Somerset Rebels for the 2010 season and in 2010 won the New South Wales under-21 title.[1] In December 2010 he was signed by Elite League team King's Lynn Stars in a doubling-up role for the 2011 season.[1][3] In September 2011 Masters won the Premier League Riders Championship at Sheffield's Owlerton Stadium.[1][4] He finished the season as Somerset's number one, but missed the end of the season after being banned for 28 days by the Speedway Control Bureau due to comments made on Facebook about a referee.[5] In November an SCB court of enquiry gave Masters a suspended 12-month ban and a £2,000 fine.[6]

Masters was a member of the Australian Under-21 team that finished second in the 2012 Under-21 World Cup Final in Gniezno, Poland.

In December 2012 he won the New South Wales Championship at the Loxford Park Speedway in Kurri Kurri. He was later signed for the 2013 Premier League season by Edinburgh Monarchs, but failed to get a work permit to ride in the UK.[7][8]

In March 2014 Sam eventually joined the Edinburgh Monarchs. Together with dual Australian Under-21 Champion Max Fricke, Sam won the 2014 Premier League Best Pairs at Somerset.

On 29 November 2014, Masters won the 2014/15 Victorian State Championship at the Undera Park Speedway defeating fellow Edinburgh riders Justin Sedgmen and Max Fricke. He then went on to finish second behind a runaway Jason Doyle in the four round 2015 Australian Championship, winning the Rd.3 "A Final" at Undera Park, while finishing second to Doyle in the "A Final" in the fourth and final round at Loxford Park.

World Final Appearances

Individual Under-21 World Championship

Under-21 World Cup

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "2011 Rider Index", speedwaygb.co, retrieved 2011-11-14
  2. 2.0 2.1 Oakes, Peter (2011) "Masters' Class...", Speedway Star, 8 October 2011, p. 30-31
  3. "Sam Masters and Morten Risager join King's Lynn Stars", BBC, 17 December 2010, retrieved 2011-11-14
  4. "Australian Sam Masters is new title-holder", chroniclelive.co.uk, 26 September 2011, retrieved 2011-11-14
  5. Belcher, Ian (2011) "Masters banned", Speedway Star, 15 October 2011, p. 16
  6. "SCB Statement", speedwaygb.co, 22 November 2011, retrieved 2011-11-27
  7. Hunter, Mike (2012) "Sign Me - Why Not?", Speedway Star, 8 December 2012, p. 16
  8. "Sam Proves the Master", Speedway Star, 8 December 2012, p. 38

External links