Les Collins

Last updated

Les Collins
Les Collins winner Potters.jpg
Born (1958-05-24) 24 May 1958 (age 65)
Manchester, England
NationalityBritish (English)
Career history
1975 Crewe Kings
1975–1979, 1988 Belle Vue Aces
1976, 1997 Stoke Potters
1980–1983 Leicester Lions
1984–1985 Sheffield Tigers
1986, 1988 King's Lynn Stars
1986–1995 Edinburgh Monarchs
1996 Cradley/Stoke Heathens
1999–2001, 2003 Glasgow Tigers
2002 Workington Comets
Individual honours
1977 British Under-21 Champion
1980 British League Riders Champion
1982 Intercontinental Champion
1980 Olympique
1986 Scottish Open Champion
1983Littlechild Trophy
Team honours
1977, 1978Northern Trophy
1993 Fours Championship winner
1986 National League Pairs Champion

Leslie Collins (born 24 May 1958) is a former motorcycle speedway rider [1] from England. [2] He finished runner-up in the 1982 Speedway World Championship as well as winning the Intercontinental Final in 1982, the British Under-21 Championship in 1977 and the British League Riders' Championship in 1980. [3] At retirement he had earned 31 international caps for the England national speedway team. [4]

Contents

Career

Crewe, Stoke & Belle Vue

Born in Manchester, England, Collins started his career with the Crewe Kings before moving Belle Vue Aces. He was loaned to the Stoke Potters in 1976 [5] but in 1977 he made a place with the Aces his own, riding alongside brother Peter and family friend Chris Morton.

Leicester Lions & 1982 World Individual Final

He moved to the Leicester Lions in 1980 where he stayed until 1983. He won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 18 October 1980. [6]

During the 1982 season he qualified for his first and only Speedway World Championship final, winning the Intercontinental Final title on the way. [7] He finished runner-up that day, despite being the only rider to beat the eventual and defending champion, home town (Los Angeles) hero Bruce Penhall. The final was held at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

An incident involving Penhall and the late Kenny Carter in heat 14 saw Carter excluded. Both riders were being beaten by Peter Collins at the point of the crash. Despite protests by Carter it was he who was excluded rather than Penhall; If Penhall had been excluded then the title may have headed in Les's direction, although that's a strange conclusion to come to given Carter had more points than Penhall at that stage, and would have been favourite to win a re-run Heat 14. Older brother Peter had been comfortably leading the race when Carter fell. Penhall won the re-run from Peter Collins and Australia's Phil Crump. [8]

Sheffield & Edinburgh

In 1984, Collins moved to the Sheffield Tigers, still in the top flight British League. In 1986, he dropped down to the National League and signed for the Edinburgh Monarchs, where he rode for ten seasons. In his first season with the Monarchs he became National League Pairs champion with Doug Wyer, during the 1986 National League season. [9]

In 1993, he helped Edinburgh win the Fours Championship during the 1993 British League Division Two season. [10]

Cradley Heath, Stoke

1996 saw Collins riding in the top flight again, with the Cradley Heathens at Stoke followed by a year in the Premier League back with the Stoke Potters. Collins missed the whole of the 1998 season but in 1999 he returned to the sport with Edinburgh's rivals, the Glasgow Tigers.

Glasgow

It was at Glasgow in the 2001 and 2002 seasons he rode with his son Aidan. The 2002 team was unique as there was a second father and son connection. Former Leicester teammate Mark Courtney was also in the line-up with his son Scott.

He had a spell in 2002 with the Workington Comets but returned to Glasgow in 2003 where he was again ever present, as he was in 2000 and 2001.

Family

Collins has four brothers all of whom were speedway riders, 1976 World Champion Peter, Phil, Neil and Stephen. His son Aidan and nephew Chris were also riders but have both retired from the sport.

World Final Appearances

Individual World Championship

Individual Under-21 World Championship

* Known as the European Under-21 Championship. Meeting declared after 12 heats due to rain.

World Longtrack

Finalist

European Grasstrack Championship

Finalist

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Penhall</span> American speedway rider

Bruce Lee Penhall is an American former professional motorcycle speedway racer who later starred in television and in film. He was the World Speedway Champion in 1981 and 1982 and rode for the successful Cradley Heath Heathens speedway team in the United Kingdom. He retired from speedway racing the night he won his second World Championship in 1982 in front of his home crowd at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Collins (speedway rider)</span> British world champion motorcycle speedway rider

Peter Spencer Collins MBE is a former speedway rider who spent his whole career (1971–1986) with the Belle Vue Aces, the team he supported as a child.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Sanders</span> Australian speedway rider

William Robert Sanders was an Australian international Speedway rider who won six Australian Championships and was a five time Speedway World Championship finalist with a career best second place in West Germany in 1983.

Kenneth Malcolm Carter , was a British motorcycle speedway rider. He was a World Pairs champion and British champion. On Wednesday, 21 May 1986, he shot dead his wife, Pam, and then killed himself, orphaning their two young children in the process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cradley Heathens</span> Former motorcycle speedway team from Dudley, England

Cradley Heathens was a motorcycle speedway team from Dudley, England. The team was founded in 1947 and competed at the top level of British speedway until its closure in 1995. It was revived as Dudley Heathens in 2010, competing in the National League, reverting to the Cradley Heathens name in 2013. It ceased operating after the 2019 season, although a team bearing the Heathens name has operated under the NORA umbrella on the Isle of Wight in 2021 and 2022 and in 2022 won The Michael Richardson Trophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Crump</span> Australian speedway rider

Philip John Crump in Mildura, Victoria is a former Motorcycle speedway rider from Australia who attained third place in the 1976 World Championship. He also won the 1976 Speedway World Team Cup with Australia in the same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ole Olsen (speedway rider)</span> Danish speedway rider

Ole Bjarne Olsen is a Danish former professional motorcycle speedway rider.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Lee (speedway rider)</span>

Michael Andrew Lee is a British former international speedway rider who won the World Championship in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Jessup</span>

David John Jessup is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England. He was a world championship runner-up, world pairs champion, world cup winner and British champion.

Arthur Dennis Sigalos is an American former professional motorcycle speedway rider.

Neil Jeffrey Collins is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England.

Philip David Collins is a former motorcycle speedway rider. He finished runner-up with England in the World Team Cup final in 1984 and third in 1985. He was British Under-21 Champion in 1978. His transfer from Ellesmere Port to Cradley Heath in 1978 for £15,000 was a record transfer fee at the time.

The 1982 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 37th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.

The 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 36th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.

The 1982 British League season was the 48th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 18th known as the British League.

The 1983 Speedway World Pairs Championship was the fourteenth FIM Speedway World Pairs Championship. The final took place on 18 June at the Ullevi Stadium in Göteborg, Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pete Smith (speedway rider, born 1957)</span> British former motorcycle speedway rider (born 1957)

Peter Edward Smith is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England.

The Intercontinental final was a Motorcycle speedway final sanctioned by the FIM as the final qualifying round for the Speedway World Championship between 1975 and 2001.

The 1982 Intercontinental Final was the eighth running of the Intercontinental Final as part of the qualification for the 1982 Speedway World Championship. The 1982 Final was run on 23 July at the Vetlanda Speedway in Vetlanda, Sweden, and was the last qualifying stage for riders from Scandinavia, the USA and from the Commonwealth nations for the World Final to be held at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, USA.

The 1982 Overseas Final was the second running of the Overseas Final as part of the qualification for the 1982 Speedway World Championship Final to be held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the United States. The 1982 Final was run on 4 July at the White City Stadium in London, England, and was the second last qualifying round for Commonwealth and American riders.

References

  1. ↑ Lawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. ISBN   978-0-244-72538-9
  2. ↑ Oakes, Peter (2004). British Speedway Who's who. ISBN   978-0-948882-81-4.
  3. ↑ Montague, Trevor (2004). The A-Z of Sport. Little, Brown. p. 516. ISBN   0-316-72645-1.
  4. ↑ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  5. ↑ Lawson,K (2018) “The Cheetahs 1976 – The Resurrection”. ISBN   978-0-244-69934-5
  6. ↑ "Les takes Crown" . Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 19 October 1980. Retrieved 4 June 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ↑ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  8. ↑ Bamford, Robert; Shailes, Glynn (2002). Speedway World Championship. Arcadia Publishing (SC). p. 183. ISBN   978-0-7524-2402-6.
  9. ↑ "Speedway Pairs Out" . Newcastle Journal. 14 July 1986. Retrieved 25 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "Invaders can't take the heat" . Derby Evening Telegraph. 26 July 1993. Retrieved 13 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.