Latest news with #speedway
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Woffinden back on bike for first time after crash
Three-time world champion Tai Woffinden has ridden a speedway bike for the first time after a serious crash in Poland. The 34-year-old, from Scunthorpe, was placed into a medically induced coma in March after he hit a fence behind a protective barrier during a race. In a video posted to social media, Woffinden is shown at an empty Olympic Stadium, Wroclaw, before riding around the track. The Sheffield Tigers' rider wrote: "The last four months have been the biggest challenge of my life, but like I do with everything, I get knocked down, get straight back up and keep on charging." He added: "All eyes on 2026". The return to the bike came four weeks after Woffinden admitted he was unsure if he would ride again. Woffinden was airlifted to hospital, underwent surgery and was placed into a medically induced coma after a crash involving his Rzeszow teammate on 30 March. He later revealed he had suffered a double break in his right leg, a broken back, broken shoulder, multiple broken ribs, a punctured lung, fractured arm and extensive blood loss. Woffinden is Great Britain's most decorated rider after winning Grand Prix world titles in 2013, 2015 and 2018. He also finished runner-up in 2016 and 2020. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices More on this story Tai Woffinden 'doesn't know' if he will ride again Speedway rider reveals extent of crash injuries Tai Woffinden: wife's thanks for love and support Speedway rider in coma after racing crash Related internet links Tai Woffinden Sheffield Tigers
BBC News
a day ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Tai Woffinden rides speedway bike for first time since crash
Three-time world champion Tai Woffinden has ridden a speedway bike for the first time after a serious crash in 34-year-old, from Scunthorpe, was placed into a medically induced coma in March after he hit a fence behind a protective barrier during a a video posted to social media, Woffinden is shown at an empty Olympic Stadium, Wroclaw, before riding around the Sheffield Tigers' rider wrote: "The last four months have been the biggest challenge of my life, but like I do with everything, I get knocked down, get straight back up and keep on charging." He added: "All eyes on 2026". The return to the bike came four weeks after Woffinden admitted he was unsure if he would ride was airlifted to hospital, underwent surgery and was placed into a medically induced coma after a crash involving his Rzeszow teammate on 30 later revealed he had suffered a double break in his right leg, a broken back, broken shoulder, multiple broken ribs, a punctured lung, fractured arm and extensive blood is Great Britain's most decorated rider after winning Grand Prix world titles in 2013, 2015 and 2018. He also finished runner-up in 2016 and 2020. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices
BBC News
4 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Oxfordshire speedway is more than just a sport, says lifelong fan
A city's speedway is not just about the sport, "it's about the community and what it means," a lifelong fan has told the Wagstaff, from Cowley, first watched a race at Oxford Stadium in the late said he fell in love with it because of "the sheer excitement of those four riders, just for 60 seconds".In 2007, Oxford lost its speedway team but it returned to the city 15 years later thanks to what Mr Wagstaff called a "tremendous effort by this community". The Oxford Cheetahs were founded in 1939, with Mr Wagstaff first watching the team 20 years later in 1959."My father first took me up there and during my school days I went on a very regular basis," he sport was "so frantic and gets the fans wild", he said, adding: "If the race is good, you really enjoy it - if it's not, you've always got the next one to come." The motoring journalist has now written a book called Oxford Revival about speedway in the city and the community that surrounds Wagstaff said his career had involved "writing about car racing" but speedway "was always there in the background".He said writing the book had "taken me back to where I came from"."I just felt that this was a story that really needed telling because of the tremendous effort by this community," he 2007, low attendance and the loss of the lease on the stadium in Sandy Lane, Cowley, forced the Oxford Cheetahs to fold - ending nearly 70 years of speedway in the city. A community-led battle for a decade and a half to bring the sport back to Oxford ended in success, with the Cheetahs returning to Sandy Lane in 2022."They took on the property developers and they won, over a 15-year period, and they had to fight really hard to do that," Mr Wagstaff took "lots of volunteers and lots of really hard work" to "beat the property developers" who wanted to turn Oxford Stadium into housing, he Cheetahs were "so important for the community", he said adding that speedway "enables them to come together and to focus". You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
20-07-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
'Norwich speedway helped break Cold War barriers'
The rousing success of a Soviet speedway team at a Norwich track helped create unity at the height of the Cold War, a historian has USSR test team had toured Britain's speedway clubs in 1964 but achieved legendary status at the Soviet Russia v Norwich Stars meeting that July.A depleted squad "rode out of their skins", impressing the home crowd and local journalists, Dr Richard Mills Mills, based at the school of history at the University of East Anglia, has explored the sport's links with the Eastern Bloc for the city's inaugural Norwich History Festival. "It really was a moment where speedway broke through those Cold War divides, broke through the barriers," he added."A four-man Soviet team raced in front of a packed Firs stadium [off Cromer Road in Hellesdon], and they won the meeting."Publications like the Eastern Daily Press spoke glowingly about these riders and the way they behaved - the miraculous fact they had beaten a Norwich Stars team full of its Swedish legends."There was a realisation that many people on the other side of the barrier are just like you and me, and sport was something everyone can unite behind and get together over." The link between East Anglia and the USSR brought other benefits the 1970s, Skoda set up its headquarters at the Port of King's Lynn and brought in thousands of vehicles, including speedway bikes and tractors."You had an ironic opportunity for communist organisations, state-run factories effectively, to use speedway to market their products," added Dr Mills. "The first marketing tie-up and the first fully sponsored team in Great Britain was the Peterborough Skoda Panthers in the early 1980s. "Speedway was the tip of the iceberg but there was a whole raft of relationships -Lowestoft shipbuilders were building fishing trawlers for the Soviet Union in the 1950s, you had Norwich making various bits of machinery for factories in Siberia, and you had east German tractors coming into King's Lynn." Dr Mills said the "human legacy and historic legacy" continues to this day, with the Norwich Stars resurrected as the King's Lynn Stars at the Adrian Flux decades the club has signed multiple riders hailing from the former Eastern Bloc, including the reigning Czech Republic champion Jan Kvě Norwich History Festival, which runs to Friday, aims to present history as a living topic relevant to our theme is rebels and radicals, with the 1549 Kett's Rebellion and lesser-known uprisings among the numerous subjects in the festival calendar. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Sun
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
‘I got to see what it looked like if I was dead' says Tai Woffinden as Speedway icon reveals horror details of coma
TAI WOFFINDEN has admitted he got to see 'what it looked like if I was dead' after coming out of a coma. The five-times world champion has opened up further on his ordeal in the immediate aftermath of the horror crash in Poland on March 30. 9 9 9 Woffy, 34, broke over FIFTEEN bones and was placed in an induced coma after three major operations to save his life. The crash happened when Woffinden collided with a teammate and hit a fence behind a protective barrier. It left him with a double break in his right leg, a broken back, broken shoulder, multiple broken ribs, a punctured lung, fractured arm and extensive blood loss. The Great Britain hero and wife Faye revealed more details on his recovery and he simply 'does not know' if he'll ever return to the track. Woffinden, who is the country's most decorated rider after winning Grand Prix world titles in 2013, 2015 and 2018, has also spoken for the first time to The Sun about the acceleration of his DJ career which he is focused on while out of action. The Scunthorpe-born racer is teaming up with a massive dance superstar Oliver Heldens, who was the DJ for Man City's title celebrations and is helping Jack Grealish learn the trade. The track released this week, The Orange Room, derives from the iconic movie Clockwork Orange. On his future, he said: 'Honestly I don't know what the plan is moving forward or if I'm going ride again. 'We are currently selling up in the UK. We don't know where we are going to live next year, we don't know if we are going to be in Europe or if I'm going to ride again. 'I feel like I'd like to sit on my bike at some point and maybe do a few laps but I just don't know. 'I've got a goal in my head to be back as fast as I can but that's just something I need to chase, to focus on and give me that drive. The reality is I don't know what's next for me.' Woffinden was due to get further MRI scan tests back at the start of the week which will clarify whether he needs another operation on the humerus in his arm. 'I'm just happy to be alive' - Tai Woffinden wells up and admits he may need further operations after terrifying crash He also revealed horrifying details of how he came out of a coma and having to deal with hallucinations. He added: 'I was like a psycho when I woke up. I looked like an 80-year-old crackhead with a nice set of teeth! 'Basically because I was angry and scared because of the strong drugs I was hallucinating like crazy. 'I was like moving around. I wanted to walk, stand-up, I wanted to get comfortable. 'There was one time they put mittens on my hands and tied my hands and legs so I couldn't kick, move or roll around. 'Because I was moving so much and the amount of injuries I had. They said to Faye if he doesn't calm down, we'll put him back in a coma. Thankfully I stopped. 'They noticed when Faye was by my side, I was really relaxed, I'd calm down and she'd talk to me and I'd listen.' 9 There was also the terrifying feeling of reading back on the tributes while he was fighting for his life. He continued: 'We've had so much support from the people we are close to but also fans. To hear stadiums like Wroclaw, Torun and others all cheering my name. 'I went back on my socials and was looking back on all the stuff. 'I woke up from the coma and looked back on my socials. 'I got to see what it looked like if I was dead. It was really weird, a really strange feeling. 'When I was in a coma no one really knew what was going on. All the messages, it was wild. 'Rehab has been full gas and here we are now.' 9 While his recuperation is remarkably rapid, Woffinden has turned his full attention to his music career which has been building steadily in his spare time over the past few years. But it's certainly set to take a massive leap in success. He added: 'Using a speedway analogy to describe where I am in dance music, I'm probably in the National Development League. But now I've teamed up with Tomasz Gollob. 'On Friday we release a big collaboration with an artist called Oliver Heldens. 'He's a Dutch DJ, kind of house, trance, techno DJ, who's a household name in dance music. 'When Man City won their last Premiership title, he was the DJ on their bus taking them around Manchester doing the music. 9 'He's been teaching Jack Grealish how to DJ and stuff. He's a pretty big deal. So we basically made a track. 'The Orange Theme is out on Friday. It's actually a derivative of a symphonic track from the 1600s. 'It's actually been covered a few times. So most famously it features in the film A Clockwork Orange, it's part of the theme tune. 'And in dance music terms, the biggest version was in the late 90s. Again, it was called The Orange Theme by a group called Cygnus X. 'This is going to be big. Can't wait to get it out there.' 9 9
