HAIL the history man! Leigh Adams charged into top spot as Swindon’s all-time highest scorer at Lakeside on Friday evening and celebrated by going on to complete his 102nd maximum for the club (48 full and 54 paid).
The consolation for the overhauled Martin Ashby is that the Marlborough-born former rider still holds the club records for the most overall appearances (641) and the most league points (3,980.5).
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.
He has since taken his overall tally of race points to an amazing 9,856.5 from 807 matches. From these meetings, he has also recorded a total of 156 maximums (70 full and 86 paid).
For Swindon alone, including Friday’s away fixture at Lakeside, Adams now totals 5,482.5 points from 467 appearances in all team competitions – putting him 6 points ahead of Ashby’s overall points tally for the club.
In the league alone for the Robins, Adams has ridden in 314 matches, scoring 3,795.5 points. With the exclusion of a guest appearance in 1995, this adjusts to 3,784.5 points from 313 appearances.
From official matches (League, Play-Offs, Knock-Out Cup, Gold Cup, BSPA Cup, Craven Shield and Elite Shield), the durable Aussie totals 4,966.5 points from 416 meetings in Swindon’s colours, excluding those as a guest, not forgetting 97 maximums (45 full and 52 paid).