LEIGH ADAMS now totals 5424.5 points from 463 appearances in all competitions for the Robins, leaving him just 52 points behind current all-time points scorer Martin Ashby.
Click to read Robert Bamford's comprehensive comparison of these two Robins' legends.
MARTIN ASHBY / LEIGH ADAMS – A COMPARISON
GIVEN that the two riders represented Swindon in different eras, it is very difficult to make comparisons, not least because throughout much of Ashby’s career meetings were run over less heats and, as such, four programmed outings was the norm.
Adams, meanwhile, has been used to receiving a regular five rides per meeting in modern times.
One thing that is a fact, though, is that both men are true legends of Swindon Speedway.
Ashby was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire on 5 February 1944 and made his debut for the Robins aged seventeen on 24 July 1961, when he failed to score from four rides in a challenge match at Exeter. After that inauspicious start, he went on to total 5,476.5 points from a whopping 641 appearances for the club in all team competitions, along with 92 maximums (77 full and 15 paid).
And, if the Rider Control Committee hadn’t posted him to Exeter from 1968-1970 inclusive, it’s anyone’s guess as to what he would have taken those tallies to! It’s fair to say that they would have been pushed beyond the reach of any other rider.
Breaking Martin’s record down to league matches alone gives a total of 3,980.5 points from 452 appearances, or, to be pedantic, with the removal of a guest appearance in 1969, it comes to 3,965.5 points from 451 meetings.
A combined total from official matches (League, National Trophy, Knock-Out Cup, Britannia Shield and Inter-League Knock-Out Cup) works out at 4,468.5 points from 513 appearances, excluding those as a guest, from which 76 maximums (64 full and 12 paid) were garnered.
Adams, meanwhile, entered this world on 28 April 1971 in Mildura, Victoria, Australia. His Swindon debut came at the age of eighteen on 24 March 1990, when he netted 8+2 points from six rides in a Gold Cup fixture against old rivals Oxford at Blunsdon.
Incredibly, having first ridden officially on these shores for Poole in 1989, Leigh is currently in his twentieth successive season of UK racing. He is already the highest scoring rider in British speedway history and recently, on 10 July, in the Robins’ home fixture versus Belle Vue, he made his 800th official appearance in the UK and took his overall tally of race points to an amazing 9,762.5.
From these meetings, he also recorded a total of 153 maximums (70 full and 83 paid).
For Swindon alone, including this week’s away and home encounters against Ipswich, Adams now totals 5,424.5 points from 463 appearances in all team competitions – leaving him just 52 points adrift of Ashby’s overall points tally for the club.
Leigh’s number of maximums for the Robins currently stands at 99 (48 full and 51 paid), so he requires just one more to reach another landmark.
In the league alone for the Robins, Adams has ridden in 310 matches, scoring 3,737.5 points. With the exclusion of a guest appearance in 1995, this adjusts to 3,726.5 points from 309 appearances.
From official matches (League, Play-Offs, Knock-Out Cup, Gold Cup, BSPA Cup, Craven Shield and Elite Shield), the durable Aussie totals 4,908.5 points from 412 meetings in Swindon’s colours, excluding those as a guest, not forgetting 94 maximums (45 full and 49 paid).
