David Howe (speedway rider)

David Howe

Born	(1982-03-01) 1 March 1982 (age 42) Leicester, England
Nationality	British (English)
Career history
Great Britain
1997–2001	Peterborough
2011–2013	King's Lynn
2002–2005, 2007–2008	Wolverhampton
2006	Oxford
2009–2015	Scunthorpe
2015	Glasgow
2017	Berwick
Poland
2002–2003	Tarnów
2005	Rawicz
2008	Grudziądz
2009	Lublin
Sweden
2000	Filbyterna
2001–2002, 2007	Örnarna
2003, 2006	Smederna
Individual honours
2000	British Under-21 Champion
2005	Scottish Open Champion
Team honours
1999, 2002	Elite League (tier 1)
1999, 2001	Knockout Cup
1999	Craven Shield
1999	Premier League (tier 2)

David Peter Howe (born 1 March 1982) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Career

Born in Leicester, England, David Howe started his career on 31 March 1997, aged 15, with the Peterborough Panthers team in the Conference League. After winning the Premier League in 1998 with Peterborough Panthers ^[4] he was part of the squad that won the treble with Peterborough: the Elite League, the Knockout Cup and the Craven Shield. ^[5]

He won the British Under-21 Championship in 2000 and in 2002 he finished third in the World Under-21 Championship. ^[6] After collecting a second Knockout Cup winners medal, he left Peterborough after the 2001 season to join Wolverhampton Wolves. His switch to the Midlands club resulted in immediate success because the team won the Elite League. ^[4]

In 2003, he reached his fifth World Under 21 final and featured in the Speedway Grand Prix for the first time, having been awarded a wild card place for 2003 Speedway Grand Prix series in Britain and Slovenia. He would later ride as a wild card for the 2007 Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain, awarded to him after finishing runner-up in the 2007 British Championship. ^[7]

He spent six seasons at Wolverhampton (split by one season with Oxford Cheetahs) before he joined Scunthorpe Scorpions in 2009. In 2011, he rode in his tenth and last British final. He became the club captain at Scunthorpe and rode for them for seven seasons before his Scunthorpe riding career came to an end after 2015. ^[4]

Howe was also successful in both Grasstrack and Longtrack having competed at the highest level of both disciplines and used GM engines that were tuned by Sean Wilson.

After two seasons with Berwick Bandits, he announced his retirement from the sport at the end of the 2018 season. ^[8] At retirement he had earned four international caps for the Great Britain national speedway team. ^[3]

Management

Howe had retained a relationship with Scunthorpe Scorpions, helping Ryan Douglas with his engines before he was appointed the team manager of the Scunthorpe Scorpions for the 2024 season, replacing Dave Peet. ^[9]

Major results

Speedway Grand Prix

2007 Speedway Grand Prix Final Championship standings
(Riding No 16)

Race no.	Grand Prix	Pos.	Pts.	Heats	Draw No
5 /11	British SGP	14	4	(0,2,0,1,1)	3

	permanent speedway rider
	wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve
	rider not classified (track reserve who did not start)

World Longtrack Championship

Grand-Prix

• 2001 – One G.P. (N/S Reserve)
• 2012 – Two G.P. 8pts (21st)
• 2013 – Four G.P. 46pts (15th)
• 2014 – Three G.P. 29pts (12th)

Best Grand-Prix Result

• Third - 2013 – Marmande

European Grasstrack Championship

Finals

• 2011 – Skegness 20pts (6th)
• 2013 – Bielefeld 14pts (8th)
• 2014 – St. Macaire 16pts (Second)

References

1. "David Peter Howe Wielka Brytania". Polish Speedway Database. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
2. "2008 Rider index" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
3. "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
4. "David Howe". WWOS Backup. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
5. "Statistics 1990 to 1999". Peterborough Panthers Speedway. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
6. "2000 British Final Result". History of Speedway (In Polish).
7. BBC. "Howe secures place in British GP". 5 June 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
8. "Berwick Speedway: David Howe announces his racing retirement", worldspeedway.com, 21 October 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018
9. "Scorpions appoint Howe". British Speedway. Retrieved 17 November 2023.