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; (2004-07) 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 nine 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 nine 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 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 partnered Charlie Gjedde to victory in the Elite League Pairs Championship.

On top of that, he also 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 Robins’ captain Leigh Adams 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 years 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.  

Aside 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.

Overall, in official meetings only, a scintillating British career spanning nineteen brilliant seasons has now seen the Aussie master rack-up a massive 9,404.5 points from 772 meetings.

It was announced on 5 November 2007 that Leigh had again agreed to lead the Robins for a fifth straight season in 2008. 

Team boss Alun Rossiter said: ‘Obviously, I’m absolutely delighted to have Leigh on board once more. He is the man who kept Swindon Speedway together again in the season just finished. And, with his desire to try and win the League Championship for the club, Leigh did it almost single handed on many occasions.

‘He is a team man and a truly brilliant captain, doing the utmost he can for his colleagues on all occasions possible. There are many individuals in our sport, but when it comes to his club, I can think of nobody better than Leigh. Many other sides would love to have a rider of his calibre and I’m sure that there will be envious glances because he has decided to spend another year with the Robins.

‘This is a great start to our team building; we have got the man who finished right at the very top of the entire Elite League averages and, of course, also scooped second place in the World Championship. Indeed, Leigh is still going strong and I’m well chuffed that he will be leading the side again in 2008.’

The 2008 campaign will represent Adams’ tenth season of racing for the Robins, adding to his previous years with the club from 1990-92, 1997-98 and 2004-07.

PROFILE BY ROBERT BAMFORD