Meet the SHEFFIELD WINDOW CENTRE Tigers 2014

Local lad Josh made rapid progress when he got his first 125cc speedway bike in 2010. Progressing quickly onto a 250cc he finished 4th in the 2011 British championship, won the Amateur meeting at Scunthorpe and rode in the 250cc world championship in Sweden. In January 2012 Josh moved up to a 500cc, joined National League Mildenhall and finished the season with a 5.30 average.

He joined Scunthorpe to replace the retired Garry Irving at the start of 2013, but became the scapegoat of an under performing team and lost his place to Lewis Blackbird before he'd done sufficient meetings to get an official average. His National League form was much better as he added over 2 points to his average helping the Fen Tigers to a NL Grand Slam and was named "Rookie of the Year".

Josh was destined for Elite League Swindon in 2014 until the opportunity to join the Tigers presented itself and Alun Rossiter agreed to release him.

Josh recovered from a first race fall to make the semi-final at the British U21 Final at Monmore Green. He passed Joe Jacobs to finish second behind Jason Garrity to qualify for the final. He was leading the final when Stefan Nielsen fell and after Jason was excluded in the rerun he became British U21 Champion with a convincing win over Adam Ellis.

Official meetings average = 3.43

Having helped steer the Tigers to their 1999 Championship win André moved up to the Elite League with Peterborough in 2000, but became a victim of his teams poor initial form. Joining Newcastle he skippered the Diamonds to Championship success in 2001, and invariably performed well against the Tigers. When the Diamonds changed their race day to Sunday for 2003 André went looking for another team and jumped at the chance of rejoining the Tigers, signing a full contract a few weeks into the season.

He doubled up with Poole in 2004 and won the controversial Premier League Rider's Championship crashing with the unbeaten Simon Stead in the final, but was unable to defend his title in 2005 failing to make the semi-final.

André assumed the captaincy in 2006 a role which he reprised in 2007 scoring no fewer than 14 maximums and leading the Tigers to the play-off finals in both years before announcing his retirement prior to the Young Shield defeat by the Isle of Wight which concluded the 2008 season.

André returned to the saddle with a brief spell on loan at Glasgow in July 2013 before rejoining the Tigers to replace the injured Richard Hall. He started the 2014 season in the reserve berth but soon moved up into the team. Just as he reached peak form he crashed on the last bend in the televised match against Somerset and was hit on the head by a following riders bike. Thankfully he escaped serious injury but had to miss several meetings while he recuperated.

Current average from official fixtures = 5.79

He won the Argentine title again in 2013 before returning to the Brummies and won the Italian championship and Grand Prix wildcard again. Although he improved his Elite league average to 5.46 he wasn't included in the Brummies plans for 2014 until they made a poor start to the season and he was recalled to replace Ed Kennett.

Left without a club when Birmingham closed Nicolas was the top scorer for the Italian side in the Speedway World Cup at King's Lynn and has joined the Tigers to replace the injured Ty Proctor. His one appearance at Owlerton was in our season opener in 2013 against Birmingham. He scored 5 points but only actually finished ahead of Jake Knight.

Current average from official fixtures = 4.28

He moved up to the Elite League with Arena Essex (subsequently Lakeside) with whom he enjoyed his testimonial season in 2005. Reverting back to his home town team in 2009 he broke a finger on the opening night and lost his team place. Once recovered he enjoyed a good year leading PL Newport. He doubled up between Newport and Belle Vue in 2010, and captained Newport to K.O. Cup victory in 2011.

He rejoined Ipswich in 2012 and doubled for Coventry and was disappointed to be released by Ipswich at the end of the 2013 campaign. Leigh has a good Owlerton record, including a 17 point return for Arena Essex back in 2003, and is looking forward to mentoring the younger members of the team.

Leigh missed several meetings after badly bruising his back in a crash at Glasgow in July.

Official meetings average = 5.02

Simon joined Workington towards the end of 2011 on the recommendation of Fjelsted team-mate Peter Kildemand but struggled to achieve his assessed 7 point average. Over the winter he joined the Leicester Lions for 2012 with whom he showed promise before crashing and breaking his femur in June.

Back with the Lions in 2013 he was dropped in May in favour of Alex Edberg, but was quickly picked up by Plymouth as replacement for Chris Schramm.

Simon starts 2014 with the same average as Andre Compton but it is Andre who will start in the reserve berth.

After a slow start and with little sign of improvement Simon was released in favour of Ben Wilson, but was quickly signed up by the Newcastle Diamonds.

Official meetings average = 3.16

Taylor has a rich speedway pedigree being the son of former rider Mick and also the grandson of Terry who was the promoter at Gosford, New South Wales. He started as a junior at the age of 10 and first ventured to these shores in August 2009 joining injury hit Mildenhall.

He signed for his father's club, Peterborough and went on-loan to Stoke for the 2010 campaign and made a fantastic start scoring 18 away at Scunthorpe and 15+1 at home to Redcar the following day. He was injured at Brough Park at the end of May, but finished the season with 247 points from thirty-five official appearances for an average of 6.45. He joined Premier League Ipswich for 2011 and became Elite League Eastbourne's No.8.

Taylor has had some impressive meetings at Owlerton including winning the 2009 'Top Gun' handicap meeting and top scoring for Stoke in 2010 with 17 points from reserve.

Taylor reverted to the reserve berth as Andre moved up into the team and this coincided with a return to the kind of form we were all hoping for.

Official meetings average = 5.54

Ty first rode in Britain for the Redcar Bears in 2008 where his fiery style soon took him to the top of their averages. He doubled up with Wolverhampton in the Elite League in 2009, before going full time in 2010. Despite a poor season in 2011 he returned in 2012 and doubled up with Plymouth. He had a fall at Armadale in May 2013 but continued riding until he felt something 'go' in his neck at Birmingham. A slipped disc was the prognosis which required major surgery and forced him to miss the rest of the season. Ty was all set to lead the Somerset Rebels in 2014 until he was dropped less than 24 hours before their press and practice.

Ty has a good record around Owlerton including finishing 3rd in the 2009 P.L.R.C. behind the winner Ricky Ashworth and runner-up Darcy Ward.

Ty's form was patchy in the Elite league with Wolverhampton and he joined the Tigers with the hope of regaining some confidence, but the initially struggled to get to grips with the pacy Owlerton circuit. A maximum against the Rye House Rockets showed he'd turned the corner and he was already in double figures when he crashed in heat 15 of the Newcastle match sustaining soft tissue damage and a haematoma in his left thigh.

Dropped by both Wolverhampton and Sheffield, Ty is having daily physiotherapy in order to regain his fitness and team places.

Official meetings average = 5.60

Maximums:  1 paid

Born: Barrow-in-Furness

Cumbria

30th August

1988

BRITISH CAREER: (2003) Swindon II, Armadale; (2004) Newcastle II, Mildenhall; (2005) Mildenhall, Boston, Glasgow; (2006) Buxton, Rye House; (2007) Rye House, Plymouth; (2008) Birmingham; (2010) Workington, Stoke, King’s Lynn; (2011) Redcar, King’s Lynn, Dudley; (2012) Workington, Coventry, Dudley; (2013) Coventry, Leicester, Sheffield.

MAJOR HONOUR: Conference League Riders’ Champion: 2006.

Son of ex Barrow, Paisley & Workington rider Chris Roynon, Adam first rode on a Cumbrian beach in 1999 and made his debut in the Conference League for Swindon the day following his fifteenth birthday in 2003. He's ridden for many clubs over the years but has had more than his fair share of injuries. Following a crash in March 2013 riding for Coventry against Birmingham at Brandon Adam had to wait until Sheffield had completed the required four home and away matches before they could re-declare their team and he made his debut for the Tigers in the League Cup semi-final against Newcastle. Sadly he finished the season on the injured list again after a heat 15 crash at the Oak Tree Arena.

Adam started the 2014 season but was dropped to accommodate Ty Proctor after just 6 matches and subsequently appeared for both Plymouth and Peterborough.

Current average from official fixtures = 5.14

 August 1

Simon joined Workington for the 2003 season doubling up with Wolverhampton in the Elite. He won the Premier Pairs title with Carl Stonehewer and made it a hat-trick of British U21 wins. He made the step up to the Elite League joining Belle Vue in 2005, won the Elite Pairs with Jason Crump in 2006 and was given a wildcard at the British Grand Prix. By 2007 he had progressed to heat-leader but was loaned to Coventry for 2008. In 2009 he transferred to Swindon where he enjoyed a testimonial meeting in 2012 and helped the Robins to their first ever Championship win beating the Poole Pirates in the play-off final.

Simon returns to his home town club in 2013 and is hopes are high that he will emulate Sean Wilson's role as the Tigers skipper. Unfortunately he picked up a badly broken leg in a crash while practicing at his Elite club King's Lynn and missed half of the season.

Simon has spent the winter training at a local boxing gymnasium and is fit and ready to go in 2014. His good form with both Sheffield and Leicester in the Elite league led to him being called up to represent his country in the Speedway World Cup. A magnificent 10 points at King's Lynn helped Britain qualify directly to the final for the first time in years.

Official meetings average = 9.63

Maximums: 3 full, 2 paid

Grandson of Roy Wilson who ran the Sheffield training track. Ben joined the Prowlers on his 15th birthday in March 2001. On his debut at Peterborough Ben went to the tapes for his first official race and sped to a dream win.

Ben got the nod to start the 2003 season wearing the Tigers No.7 jacket. He kept his place the following season and after a slow start to 2004 Ben was showing some real form when he crashed in the 75th Anniversary meeting at Owlerton. He recovered to qualify from the British U21 final at Rye House, but on a rain soaked track at Rawicz in Poland he could only muster 6 points ending his World Championship aspirations for the year.

Ben made the transition to second-string for the 2005 campaign and continued to improve his average. His form didn't go un-noticed and Chris Van Straatan was happy to offer Ben the chance to double-up with Elite League Wolverhampton in 2006. He became British U21 Champion at King's Lynn qualifying directly to the final and keeping his nerve to win the title ahead of Daniel King and Lewis Bridger after Steve Boxall fell. He was rewarded by being named as reserve for the British Grand Prix at Cardiff.

Ben stepped up to the third heat-leader role for the Tigers in 2007, but rode most of the year in the no.2 jacket coupled with Ricky. Despite this Ben failed to improve his average for the first time, mainly due to some disappointing away performances.

Ben rode as third heat leader for the Tigers in 2008 but came under pressure from Joel Parsons for third place in the averages and announced his decision to move on to another team as he felt he needed a new challenge. Two seasons with Redcar were followed by a year at Scunthorpe where his average dipped to 6.57.

Three years on and following some sparkling performances for NL Stoke Ben has been persuaded to have another go with the Tigers.

Current average from official fixtures = 4.77