Tai Woffinden

Personal information
Tai Woffinden

Nationality	United Kingdom
Date of birth	(1990-08-10) 10 August 1990
Place of birth	Scunthorpe, England
Website	www.taiwoffinden.com
Current club information
Polish league	WTS Wrocław
Swedish league	Elit Vetlanda
Career history
Scunthorpe Scorpions Rye House Rockets Poole Pirates Włókniarz Częstochowa Wolverhampton Wolves Start Gniezno Sparta Wrocław Elit Vetlanda	2006-2007 2007-2008 2007 2008-2010 2009-2014 2011-2012 2013– 2014–
Speedway Grand Prix statistics
2009 Number	1 / 108
Starts	31
Podiums	9 (3-4-2)
Finalist	10 time
Winner	3 times
Individual honours
Western Australia Under 16 Champion Conference League Riders Champion British Under 18 Champion British Under 21 Champion Premier League Riders Champion British Champion Czech Republic Grand Prix Winner Swedish Grand Prix World Champion	2006 2007 2007 2008 2008 2013, 2014 2013, 2014 2014 2013
Team honours
Elite League Champion Premier League Champion Conference League Champion Conference Trophy Winner Conference KO Cup Winner Conference Shield Winner	2009 2007 2006, 2007 2006, 2007 2006, 2007 2006

Tai Woffinden (born 10 August 1990, in Scunthorpe, England) is a speedway rider. In 2013 he became World Speedway Champion and currently rides for the WTS Wrocław in the Polish Speedway Ekstraliga and Elit Vetlanda in the Swedish Elitserien.^[1] 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.^[2]

Woffinden is the current captain of the Great Britain team that finished fourth in the 2014 Speedway World Cup Final in Bydgoszcz, 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 and he still considers Perth to be his home.

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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5]^[6]^[7] 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.^[8] Woffinden has agreed to ride for his parent club, the Wolverhampton Wolves, for the 2009 Elite League season.^[9]

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.^[10] 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 142 metres (155 yd) Pinjar Park Speedway in Perth.^[11]

In 2013 Woffinden won the Speedway Grand Prix series to become World Champion.^[12] 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.

Career details

World Championships

Individual World Championship (Speedway Grand Prix)
- 2008 - did not classify (track reserve at British SGP)
- 2013 - World Champion
Individual U-21 World Championship
- 2007 - qualified for Semi-Final 2, but he was replaced by the track reserve
- 2008 - Pardubice - 15th place (3 pts)
- 2009 - Goričan - 4th place (12+1 pts)

Team U-21World Championship (U-21 Speedway World Cup)
- 2007 - Abensberg - Silver medal (track reserve - 0 heats)
- 2008 - 3rd place in Qualifying Round 1 (11 pts)
- 2009 - 4th place in Qualifying Round 1 (15 pts)

Speedway Grand Prix results

Year	Position	Points	Best Finish	Notes
2010	14th	49	7th	Debut in SGP season.
2011	25th	2	16th	Track wildcard at Cardiff GP.
2013	1st	151	1st	Six podium finishes including his first SGP win at the Czech Republic Grand Prix. He eventually finished the season as World Champion with 151 points.
2014