29 Facts About Leigh Adams

Leigh Adams is a multiple Speedway Grand Prix winner and World Team Champion.

Leigh Adams won a record ten Australian individual championships, four Australian Under-21 Championships and the 1992 Individual Speedway Junior World Championship.

Leigh Adams was a product of junior speedway in his home town of Mildura, which was the home town of multiple Victorian and Australian champion Phil Crump who became his mentor.

Leigh Adams won the Australian Under-16 championship in 1986 at the age of 15 which was held in Mildura, before joining the senior ranks in 1987.

Leigh Adams won the Australian Solo Championship in 1992,1993,1994,1998,2000,2002,2003,2005,2006 and finally 2009.

Leigh Adams won his first national title at the North Arm Speedway in Adelaide with a 14 points from his 5 rides, and his tenth and last championship in Adelaide at Gillman Speedway after dominating the three-round championship with 15 wins from 15 rides.

Leigh Adams won his first Victorian State Championship in 1989 in Mildura in what was only his third season of senior riding, beating Phil Crump at Olympic Park.

In 1997 and 1998, Leigh Adams won the 10 Round Australian Speedway Masters Series.

Leigh Adams finished runner up in the series to Jason Crump in 1999, and the final year the series was run in 2000 he was the Series 500 champion.

Leigh Adams holds the record for most Australian Solo Championship wins with 10 and jointly holds the record for most Australian Under-21 Championship wins with 2012 World Champion Chris Holder.

Leigh Adams first came to England in 1988 and completed four matches for Poole Pirates in the National Junior League.

Leigh Adams had originally been recommended to Poole by their Australian team manager Neil Street, and it was Poole he subsequently joined for their National League Championship winning season of 1989.

Leigh Adams won the first of his record ten Australian national titles in 1992, and captured the World Under-21 Championship after beating Mark Loram in a race-off at Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Germany.

Leigh Adams repeated the success two years later in 1997.

Leigh Adams had a single season with the London Lions in 1996 before returning to Swindon in 1997 and recorded a 9.96 average in the inaugural season of the Elite League.

Leigh Adams was again back with the Robins in 1998 but with Swindon again dropping down a league in 1999, he left and signed for the King's Lynn Stars.

Leigh Adams remained at King's Lynn for the 2000 campaign and topped the Elite League riders averages, finishing the season on 10.24.

In 2001, Leigh Adams signed for Oxford and won the Elite League Championship.

Leigh Adams remained with Oxford in 2002, which was a year in which Adams won his first Speedway Grand Prix, after claiming the 2002 Speedway Grand Prix of Scandinavia at the Ullevi in Gothenburg.

The 2003 season saw Leigh Adams register a 9.97 league average back with Poole Pirates in a year which Poole won the treble; winning the League Championship, the Knock-Out Cup and the British League Cup.

Leigh Adams returned to Swindon in 2004 and again finished top of the Elite League averages on 10.94 and partnered Charlie Gjedde to victory in the Elite League Pairs Championship.

In 2005, Leigh Adams partnered new Swindon signing Lee Richardson to the Elite League Pairs Championship at Peterborough.

Leigh Adams put together another successful season for Swindon in 2007, as the club finished runners-up in all three major domestic finals, being beaten by Coventry in the Elite League Play-Offs final, Knock-Out Cup final and Craven Shield final.

Leigh Adams completed his best ever Grand Prix campaign in 2007, finishing second overall to Nicki Pedersen.

In 2008, Leigh Adams became the Swindon Robins all-time top points scorer.

Leigh Adams's paid maximum at Lakeside in August 2008 took him onto 5,482.5 points, surpassing the previous record set by Martin Ashby who scored 5,476.5 during his time with the Robins.

In 2010 Leigh Adams announced his retirement from speedway after 20 years of international competition.

In 2011, Leigh Adams fulfilled a long-term ambition and entered the Finke Desert Race in Australia's Northern Territory near Alice Springs.

Leigh Adams was flown from Alice Springs to Royal Adelaide Hospital where he underwent a six-hour operation to stabilise and strengthen his badly injured spine.