Ellis Perks

Ellis George Perks (born 18 March 1997) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England. In 2019, he became the first ever rider to win all three tiers of the British Speedway leagues in the same season; the Premiership, Championship and National League.

Ellis Perks
Born (1997-03-18) 18 March 1997
Worcester, England
NationalityBritish (English)
Career history
2014Scunthorpe Saints
2015Scunthorpe Scorpions
2015Cradley Heathens
2016, 2018Plymouth Devils
2016Eastbourne Eagles
2017Rye House Rockets
2017Redcar Bears
2017Wolverhampton Wolves
2018Peterborough Panthers
2019–2020Leicester Lions
2019Leicester Lion Cubs
2019–2020Swindon Robins
Team honours
2016National League Knock-Out Cup
2018SGB Championship Four Team Championship
2019SGB Premiership
2019SGB Premiership Supporters Cup
2019SGB Championship
2019Championship Shield
2019National League
2019National League Knockout Cup

Family

He is the great nephew of former rider Dave Perks and son of former referee Robbie Perks.[1]

Career

Born in Worcester, England, Perks began riding grasstrack at the age of 6 and took up speedway aged 10 after moving to Australia with his family in 2007.[2]

He made his British speedway league debut in 2014 with Scunthorpe Scorpions' National League team, and was signed by Poole Pirates as a club asset in 2015,[3] riding that year in the Premier League for Scorpions and in the National League for Cradley Heathens and Eastbourne Eagles, and in 2016 for Plymouth Devils and Isle of Wight Warriors.[2][4]

At the beginning of the 2017 season Perks signed for the Rye House Rockets.[5] He also rode that season for Wolverhampton Wolves, Redcar Bears, and Buxton Hitmen.[1] After failing to get a team place at the start of the 2018 season, he was signed by Peterborough Panthers in June as a short-term replacement for Emil Grondal,[6] and in July returned to the Heathens team for their National Trophy campaign.[7]

In December 2018 he signed to ride for Leicester Lions in the SGB Championship and Leicester Lion Cubs in the National League for the 2019 season. He also signed for Swindon Robins in the SGB Premiership. He went on to win all three leagues with these teams in 2019, the first ever rider to achieve this.[8][9] He also won the SGB Premiership Supporters Cup with the Robins, the Championship Shield with the Lions and National League Knockout Cup with the Lion Cubs in the same year.[10]

References
  1. "RIDERS - P - British Speedway Official Website". speedwaygb.co.
  2. "Ellis Perks Up Rockets", Rye House Speedway, 5 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2018
  3. Payne, Ned (2015) "Poole Pirates: Ellis Perks joins Pirates as club asset", Bournemouth Echo, 26 March 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2018
  4. "Warriors Sign Rising Star Ellis for 2016", Island Echo, 12 December 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2018
  5. "PERKS COMPLETES ROCKETS - British Speedway Official Website". speedwaygb.co.
  6. Plummer, Mark (2018) "LATEST NEWS: Perks for Peterborough Panthers", Peterborough Telegraph, 8 June 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018
  7. Youll, Russell (2018) "Cradley Heathens sign U21 star Ellis Perks", Express & Star, 20 July 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018
  8. "Result: Thursday October 17", speedwaygb.co.uk, 17 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019
  9. Reynolds, Shaun (2019) "Ellis Perks is in Swindon Robins' plans for 2020 season - and the reserve is keen to remain", Swindon Advertiser, 31 October 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019
  10. "Double Double Completed!", leicesterspeedway.com, 29 October 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019
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