Steve Schofield (speedway rider)

For the photographer, see Steve Schofield.

Steven Schofield (born 27 February 1958) is a British former motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in speedway, longtrack and grasstrack Racing.^[1] He earned 12 international caps for the England national speedway team.^[2]

Steve Schofield

Born	(1958-02-27) 27 February 1958 (age 67) Carshalton, England
Nationality	British (English)
Career history
Great Britain
1980–1983	Weymouth Wildcats
1982–1983	Reading Racers
1984–1985	Wolverhampton Wolves
1986–1988, 1991–1997	Poole Pirates
1989–1990	Hackney Kestrels
1998	Oxford Cheetahs
Poland
1992–1996	Gdańsk
Individual honours
1997	Long Track World Championship silver
1998	Long Track World Championship bronze
1990	Southern Riders' Champion
1988	British Masters (Grasstrack)
Team honours
1994	League champion (tier 1)
1994	Fours winner (tier 1)
1986	National League Riders' runner-up (tier 2)
1990	Pairs champion (tier 2)

Career

Longtrack and grasstrack

Schofield reached eight World Longtrack world championship finals and won the silver medal in 1997 and the bronze medal in 1998. He also reached seven European Grasstrack Champion finals and was the British Masters 500cc grasstrack champion in 1988, following seven consecutive 350cc titles from 1980 to 1986.^[1]

Speedway

Schofield began his British leagues career riding for Weymouth Wildcats in 1980 but it was not until the 1981 National League season that he became a first team regular.^[3] He enjoyed two more seasons of consistent riding at Weymouth recording an average of 8.97 in 1983.^[4]

He spent two seasons at Wolverhampton Wolves from 1984^[5] to 1985 before joining Poole Pirates in 1986. In his first season at Poole he finished runner-up in the National League Riders' Championship and averaged 10.36.^[6] He topped the Poole averages for the next two years in 1987 and 1988.

For the 1989 National League season, he joined Hackney Kestrels and topped the league averages for the London club.^[7] The following season the success continued as he topped the league averages for a second consecutive season and won the National League Pairs, partnering Andy Galvin for Hackney, during the 1990 National League season.^[8][9] In 1990, he won the Southern Riders' Championship.^[10]

After two very successful seasons with Hackney, Schofield re-joined the Poole Pirates, where he would spend seven more seasons.^[11] With Poole, he won the 1994 league title and fours championship.^[12] His final season was the 1998 Elite League speedway season, with Oxford Cheetahs.^[2]

He retired through injury having been involved in a bad crash with Jason Crump and Joe Screen at the Bonfire Burn-up.^[13]

Major results

World Longtrack Championship

• 1987 Semi-final
• 1988 Scheeßel (14th) 6pts
• 1989 Mariánské Lázně (12th) 12pts
• 1990 Herxheim bei Landau/Pfalz (13th) 9pts
• 1991 Mariánské Lázně (13th) 5pts
• 1992 Pfarrkirchen (15th) 2pts
• 1993 Mühldorf (5th) 14pts
• 1994 Semi-final
• 1995 Scheeßel (19th) 1pt
• 1996 Herxheim bei Landau/Pfalz (8th) 8pts
• 1997 5 app (Second) 85pts
• 1998 5 app (Third) 85pts
• 1999 5 app (Fourth) 76pts

Best Grand-Prix Results

• Abingdon-on-Thames - third 1998
• Cloppenburg - first 1997
• Jübek - third 1999
• Mariánské Lázně - first 1997
• Marmande - second 1998, Tthird 1999
• Mühldorf - third 1998 & 1999

European Grasstrack Championship

• 1981 Semi-final
• 1982 Damme (5th) 15pts
• 1985 La Réole (7th) 11pts
• 1986 Eenrum (second) 21pts
• 1994 Cloppenburg (third) 19pts
• 1995 Joure (8th) 11pts
• 1996 Saint-Colomb-de-Lauzun (second) 21pts

British Grasstrack Championship

500cc Finals

• 1982 second
• 1983 third
• 1988 first
• 1992 second
• 1994 second
• 1996 second