Isle of Wight Warriors

The Isle of Wight Warriors (formerly Isle of Wight Islanders) are a motorcycle speedway team from England. They last competed in the 2019 National Development League and ride their home meetings at the Smallbrook Stadium.^[1] As of 2023, the team currently race various challenge matches outside of the league system.^[2]

Isle of Wight Warriors (formerly Islanders)
2005 match in Hull, Islanders vs Vikings
Club information
Track address	Smallbrook Stadium Ashey Road Ryde Isle of Wight PO33 4BH
Country	England
Founded	1996, 2016 (re-founded)
Club facts
Colours	Blue and Yellow
Track size	385 metres (421 yd)
Track record time	66.1 secs
Track record date	13 April 2017
Track record holder	Stefan Nielsen
Major team honours
Premier League Knockout Cup 2003 Premier League Pairs 2002, 2007 Premier League Fours 2007 Young Shield 1998, 2001 National Trophy 2013

History

Isle of Wight speedway began in 1996, at the Smallbrook Stadium, when the team signed up as a founder member of the newly formed Conference League.^[3] The league was for teams outside of the Premier League at the time and during their inaugural season the Ryde Wight Wizards finished in fourth place in the 1996 Speedway Conference League table.^[4]

The following season in 1997, the team entered the Conference League again, which was now the third tier of British speedway because a new Elite League had been formed as the top tier, with the Premier League becoming the second tier.^[5] However, in July the Premier League team Skegness Braves folded due to financial difficulties and the Smallbrook Stadium promotion stepped in to host the remainder of the fixtures. The team would be known as the Isle of Wight Islanders.^[6]

The team won their first silverware in 1998 after winning the Young Shield, an end of season event for the leading eight clubs in the league table. They defeated the league champions Peterborough Panthers in the final.^[7] After several mediocre seasons they won the Young Shield again during the 2001 Premier League speedway season.

In 2002, Adam Shields and Danny Bird won the Premier League Pairs Championship, held at Derwent Park on 19 July^[8][9] and the following season in 2003, the club won their best honour to date, when winning the Premier League Knockout Cup.

During the 2007 Premier League speedway season, the team reached the play offs and won both the Pairs (Chris Holder and Jason Bunyan beat Glasgow in the final)^[10] and Fours Championships (Holder, Bunyan, Krzysztof Stojanowski, Glen Phillips and Cory Gathercole).^[11]

In 2009, they joined the third division (the National League) and in 2013 won the National Trophy (a supplementary tournament, during the 2013 National League speedway season).^[12]

After a break of two years (2014 and 2015), the club reformed in 2016 under the promotion of Barry Bishop and Martin Widman. For the 2018 National League speedway season the team were renamed the Isle of Wight Warriors and ran until the cancelled 2020 season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

In 2021, the club announced they would not be competing during the 2021 season^[13] but would race as the Wightlink Warriors Shale Track Racing Club, separate from the British speedway leagues.^[14]

Notable riders

•   Danny Bird
•   Jason Bunyan
•   Jason Doyle
•   Adam Ellis
•   Cory Gathercole
•   Chris Holder
•   Ray Morton
•   Glen Phillips
•   Adam Shields
•   Nick Simmons
•   Krzysztof Stojanowski

Season summary

Extended content

Year and league Position Notes 1996 Speedway Conference League 4th Ryde Wight Wizards 1997 Premier League speedway season 8th As the Islanders 1997 Speedway Conference League 3rd Ryde Wight Wizards 1998 Premier League speedway season 6th 1999 Premier League speedway season 8th 2000 Premier League speedway season 11th 2001 Premier League speedway season 4th 2002 Premier League speedway season 3rd 2003 Premier League speedway season 3rd 2004 Premier League speedway season 5th 2005 Premier League speedway season 6th 2006 Premier League speedway season 8th 2007 Premier League speedway season 5th 2008 Premier League speedway season 11th 2009 National League speedway season 5th 2010 National League speedway season 7th 2011 National League speedway season 9th 2012 National League speedway season 3rd 2013 National League speedway season 4th 2016 National League speedway season 8th 2017 National League speedway season 11th 2018 National League speedway season 8th first season as Warriors 2019 National Development League speedway season 6th

References

1. Bamford, R & Jarvis, J.(2001). Homes of British Speedway. ISBN 0-7524-2210-3
2. "2023 fixtures". Warriors Speedway. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
3. "More variety for the Tigers". Cambridge Daily News. 15 March 1996. Retrieved 14 July 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
5. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - MODERN ERA (1991-PRESENT)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
6. "Is this the end for the Braves?". Boston Target. 25 June 1997. Retrieved 14 July 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "1998 season fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
8. "2002 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
9. "2002 Premier League Pairs at Workington". YouTube. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
10. "ISLANDERS TAKE PAIRS TITLE". Sheffield Speedway. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
11. "2007 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
12. Oakes, P (2006). Speedway Star Almanac. Pinegen Ltd. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0.
13. "Warriors withdraw from National League". Warriors Speedway. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
14. "New speedway club owners say sport on Island is 'All Wight'". Isle of Wight County Press. Retrieved 14 July 2023.