Luke Alex Bowen (born 26 January 1986 in

Harlow Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

) is a former

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider from England.

Career

Bowen was with the

Hoddesdon Hoddesdon () is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, lying entirely within the London Metropolitan Area and Greater London Urban Area. The area is on the River Lea and the Lee Navigation along with the New River. Hoddesdon ...

-based club

Rye House Rockets The Rye House Rockets were a motorcycle speedway, speedway team based at Rye House Stadium, Hoddesdon, England. They competed in various British speedway leagues from 1954 to 2018. History Origins & 1930s Rye House began life in 1934, host ...

in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for much of his career, racing at first with the Rye House Raiders before progressing to the

Rockets A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

after overcoming some serious injuries, winning the Premier League Championship in 2007. In 2016, Luke joined

Kent Kings The Kent Eagles (formerly the Kent Kings and Kent Royals) are a British motorcycle speedway team formed in 2013. They currently race in the 2025 National Trophy, based at the Iwade Speedway. History Origins & 2010s Kent Kings joined th ...

, skippering this National League team and topping the teams' averages from 2016 to 2018. In 2023, he came out of retirement to ride for the

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. Since leaving the Br ...

in the NBRL.

Family

His father

Kevin Kevin is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; ; ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicised from , an Irish diminutive form.''A Dictiona ...

also rode for the Rye House Rockets in the early 1980s.Jacobs, Norman (2007). ''70 Years of Rye House Speedway''.

References

1986 births Living people British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Sportspeople from Harlow Rye House Rockets riders {{England-speedway-bio-stub