Tai's story...

Back in 2007 I spent half the speedway season as track photographer at our local track, Rye House. Among the riders who turned out for the Rockets that season was this chap...

...Young British rider Tai Woffinden.  He'd made his debut riding for Scunthorpe in the lowest division, at the time called the Conference League, the season before, and was still riding for them as well as in the Premier League for Rye House during the 2007 season. At just 16 he was already making a lot of people sit up and take notice - and his results showed why, as he was consistently winning races and beating riders with far more experience.

He regularly partnered Rockets rider Tommy Allen and the pair of them became a formidable partnership for the home side:

We saw that a lot!  Never shy of popping a good wheelie when he'd won a race either, our Tai. Even at that stage he had a keen understanding of "what worked" - and as he approached along the home straight on one wheel, he'd actively seek out the camera...

Even when turning out for Scunthorpe in the Conference League fixture against Rye Houses's "Raiders" he got a great reception from the home support. Always happy to sign autographs or have photos taken, awnd with a keen sense of fun, the fans had absolutely taken him to their hearts and the small matter of him riding for the opposition wasn't going to change that!

Towards the end of the season Rye staged the Conference league rider's championship, and Tai represented Scunthorpe. Nobody was greatly surprised when he went through the card, scoring a faultless 15 point maximum and emerging a well deserved winner.

Tai's career has continued on an upward trajectory since. This season he was granted a place in the sport's premier event, the Grand Prix series, and in spite of twice breaking his collarbone in the course of the season, last night he stood atop the podium and received a rather larger and more valuable trophy than that pictured above. Well done Tai - British speedway is VERY proud of you!

TAI WOFFINDEN - SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPION 2013! 

A bit of news...

Well, I seem to have found myself as Rye House track photographer for the rest of the season! I went to watch them last Saturday and - whilst waiting for the racing to start, spotted an ad in the programme for a reliable photographer to cover their home meetings. I thought about it for a while - before heading off to find the person responsible and introduce myself. After a brief explanation of what I do at Ipswich and where else I've worked, I was duly dispatched onto the centre green to see what I could so. No pressure or anything! I'm relieved to say that over the course of the evening I produced some of the best speedway work I've turned out to date and passed my "audition" with flying colours. As a result of this I've had rather a busy week - starting last Saturday with Rye, then Peterborough -v- Ipswich on Monday , Ipswich -v- coventry on Thursday, Reading -v- Ipswich Friday and finally Rye -v- Sittingbourne last night. Thankfully it's world cup week now so a chance for a breather - well apart from Rye again on Friday that is! I'm really noticing a difference in my shots now - I thought after Rye and Peterborough it was as a result of them being nice easy places to shoot, but I'm seeing a real advance in my Ipswich stuff too - they've gained a certain sharpness, a crispness almost, that I've been looking for. I've also been sticking with my aim of making a point of asking for access at away tracks as I've been visiting them and I'm sure working in more varied places is helping my shots. (It's also reassuring to have now been told by several other speedway 'togs that Ipswich is indeed a devil of a place to shoot!)