Tai Woffinden is one of the most outstanding and distinctive speedway riders of recent years. Born in Scunthorpe, England in 1990, he stood out as a young athlete with a knack for speedway sports and extraordinary charisma. In the 2026 season, he will return to compete in the elite Speedway Grand Prix series.
The popular „Tai” arrived in Poland in 2008 to represent WŁÓKNIARZ Czestochowa. The Briton competed in the youth division at the time, earning valuable points for the „Lions.” In the 2009 season, along with the team from Jasna Góra, he won his first medal in the Polish Team Championships, standing on the lowest step of the podium. In the 2011 season, he was loaned to the lower-level team START Gniezno, where he became the team leader. In 2012, he moved to Wroclaw’s BETARD SPARTA and became an icon of the club in the capital of Lower Silesia. A three-time Individual World Champion in the yellow and red colors, he competed continuously until the 2024 season and, together with the Spartan team, won 8 medals – 1 gold, 5 silver, and 2 bronze. The milestone in Tai’s career came in the 2013 season when he won the gold medal at the Individual World Championships. He repeated this feat in 2015 and 2018. The year 2013 was particularly outstanding for him thanks to achievements in the PGE Ekstraliga, where with an average of 2.471, he was the third most effective player in the entire competition. Although Tai did not improve on this result, he had equally successful seasons in 2015 – with an average of 2.415, and 2016 – with an average of 2.411. As the leader of the Wroclaw BETARD SPARTA, he won the sympathy of local fans with his fighting spirit and effective attacks right under the band on the home track, as well as his good relationship with the audience. Bidding farewell to the Wroclaw club, there was a great deal of respect for him in the community, evidenced by the symbolic key to the city of Wroclaw presented to him by the leaders of the Wroclaw club – Krystyna and Andrzej Rusko. To this day, Tai maintains great sentiment for his former employer and often attends events at the Olympic Stadium.
Tai Woffinden became a full-fledged participant in the Speedway Grand Prix series in 2010, but his debut didn’t go well as he finished in a distant 14th place. In the following season, he only competed with a wild card at the Cardiff tournament, where he earned 2 points. It was much better in the 2013 season, where he sensationally became the Individual World Champion with a 9-point lead over the second-place finisher Jarosław Hampel. The following year, he was just off the podium, but in 2015 he again stood on the highest step of the podium, securing 163 points in 12 tournaments, surpassing Greg Hancock (147 points) and Nicki Pedersen (131 points). It can be said with confidence that Tai was an absolute dominator of the world championship, impressing with precise and incredibly fast riding. The 2016 season brought him a silver medal, 2017 a bronze, and he returned to the top in 2018. The British gladiator was unmatched and by winning four Speedway Grand Prix events, he was able to celebrate at the end of the series his third gold medal in the Individual World Championships. Such achievements qualify him as one of the most outstanding and decorated speedway riders of all time. The pandemic season of 2020 brought him a silver medal and, as it later turned out, his last medal in the SGP series.
„Tai” is known for his unique lifestyle, which for many may seem controversial due to his image and love for creating music and hosting parties. He has always shown that he goes his own way and doesn’t care about the opinions of skeptical fans or experts, which he still expresses in the media today. It’s worth noting that he wasn’t broken by the situation when his motorcycle broke in half during a PGE Ekstraliga match in 2015 between KS Toruń and BETARD SPARTA Wrocław. The unwavering Brit did not think of withdrawing from further competition. Similarly, there were many other on-track situations where he showed immense determination and heart for the fight. His form remains a great unknown, as at the beginning of the past season, during a test match in Krośnie in the colors of TEXOM STAL Rzeszów, he suffered a horrific accident resulting in numerous injuries, making his health situation a great uncertainty. However, this did not concern the organizers of the Speedway Grand Prix series, who decided to invite the Briton to the series with a permanent „wild card,” surprising nearly the entire speedway community. Moreover, the champion from Scunthorpe signed a contract with the team MOONFIN MALESA Ostrów Wlkp, competing at the METALKAS 2. Ekstraliga level. Will the England representative refer to his best seasons and silence the critics? We’ll find out soon enough.
Łukasz Rusiecki
