Tai Woffinden

Early life

He is the son of former speedway rider Rob Woffinden. Although born in England and competing as a British rider, Tai grew up in Perth, Western Australia after his parents Rob and Sue decided to move down under in 1994 and he still considers Perth to be his home.

Career

Woffinden began his career in junior speedway in Perth where he won the 2006 Western Australian Under-16 title, though he unfortunately missed riding in the Australian Under-16 Championship in Adelaide.

Woffinden started his British career with the Scunthorpe Scorpions in the Conference League in 2006. When he turned sixteen years of age he made his Premier League debut for the Sheffield Tigers as a guest rider. He is an asset of Wolverhampton Wolves after he signed a full contract with the Elite League side in 2006.

2007 saw Woffinden return to Scunthorpe in the Conference League and signed on a season's loan with the Rye House Rockets in the Premier League. In August 2007 he also signed for the Poole Pirates in the Elite League to ride at reserve, sharing the spot with Rye House Rockets team-mate Steve Boxall for the rest of the season.

Woffinden signed for the Rye House Rockets again for the 2008 season. He also made his debut for Great Britain in the Speedway World Cup, impressing with a win against world class opposition. He also finished third in the British Speedway Championship. This finish qualified Woffinden to be a track reserve at the British Grand Prix but he did not have an opportunity to ride. Woffinden has agreed to ride for his parent club, the Wolverhampton Wolves, for the 2009 Elite League season.

Honours

With the Scunthorpe Scorpions in 2006 he completed a clean sweep of Conference League trophies, winning the Championship, Conference Trophy, Conference Shield and the Knockout Cup.

In 2007, Woffinden became the youngest ever rider to appear in the British Championship Final but suffered injury in a crash and had to withdraw from the meeting. In September he became the Conference League Riders Champion and then two days later won the British Under 18 Championship.

The Rockets clinched the Premier League Championship in 2007 after beating the Sheffield Tigers in the final.

Woffinden became British Under-21 Champion in 2008. The event was held at the Arena Essex Raceway, with Woffinden only dropping one point in the qualifying heats and winning the final ahead of Adam Roynon and Ben Barker. Woffinden is the first rider to hold both the British Under-18 and British Under-21 title during the same season. He was also the first rider to be the British Under 18 Champion for two consecutive seasons. On 15 April 2011 Tai Woffinden won the British Under 21 Championship, held at the Arena Essex Raceway.

After his father's death from cancer in 2010, the Rob Woffinden Classic has become one of the biggest events for speedway bikes in Western Australia. Tai won the Classic named for his late father in 2012 at the 142 metres (155 yd) Pinjar Park Speedway in Perth.

In 2013 Woffinden won the Speedway Grand Prix series to become World Champion. Woffinden is the 8th British rider to become World Champion and the first one to hold the British Championship and World Championship in the same year since Gary Havelock in 1992. He is also the youngest World Champion in the modern day GP competition. He also won Motorcycle News Man of the Year Award for 2013.

After dropping to 4th place in the 2014 Speedway Grand Prix season, Tai Woffinden bounced back in 2015 to regain the Speedway World Championship, becoming the first British rider to win two world individual titles since Peter Craven won his second in 1962. On the way to his second championship success, Woffinden won the Czech Republic and Scandinavian Grand Prix while finishing second in Finland, Sweden and Slovenia and third in Poland II.

World Championships

SGP Podium

1. Prague (18 May 2013) - 1st place
2. Gorzów (15 June 2013) - 3rd Place
3. Terenzano (3 August 2013) - 2nd Place
4. Daugavpils (17 August 2013) - 3rd Place
5. Krško (7 September 2013) - 2nd Place
6. Tampere (17 May 2013) - 2nd Place
7. Prague (31 May 2014) - 1st place
8. Målilla (14 June 2014) - 1st place
9. Cardiff (12 July 2014) - 2nd place
10. Tampere (16 May 2015) - 2nd place
11. Prague (23 May 2015) - 1st place
12. Malilla (25 July 2015) - 2nd place
13. Gorzow (29 August 2015) - 3rd Place
14. Krsko (12 September 2015) - 2nd Place
15. Stockholm (26 September 2015) - 1st Place
16. Warsaw (14 May 2016) - 1st Place
17. Horsens (11 June 2016) - 3rd Place
18. cardiff (9 July 2016) - 2nd Place
19. Gorzów (27 August 2016) - 2nd Place
20. Melbourne (22 October 2016) - 2nd Place
21. Gorzow (26 August 2017) - 1st Place

SGP Finals

1. Bydgoszcz (20 April 2013)
2. Cardiff (4 July 2015)
3. Horsens (8 August 2015)
4. Krsko (30 April 2016)

SEC Podium

1. Gdańsk (27 July 2013) - 3rd Place

SEC Finals

1. Togliatti (10 August 2013)