Theo Pijper (born 11 February 1980) is a Dutch

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. He earned 2 caps for the Netherlands national speedway team.

Career

Born in

Dokkum Dokkum is a Dutch fortified city in the municipality of Noardeast-Fryslân in the province of Friesland. It has 12,669 inhabitants (February 8, 2020). The fortifications of Dokkum are well preserved and are known as the ''bolwerken'' (bulwarks) ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, Pijper first rode a motorbike at the age of five. He was a successful long track rider before starting his speedway career. He made his debut in British speedway in 2002 with

Edinburgh Monarchs The Edinburgh Monarchs are a Scottish speedway team based in Armadale. They compete in the SGB Championship, racing on Friday nights during the speedway season. The club is run by a board of directors, chaired by Alex Harkess and also runs a ...

, staying with the team until 2007 in a spell that included a

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 ...

title in 2003. In 2004, he won the European Grasstrack Championship at

Eenrum Eenrum (; ) is a village in the Dutch province of Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Het Hogeland, 17 km northwest of the city of Groningen. Eenrum was a separate municipality until 1990, then it was merged with Ulrum, Klooste ...

. In 2007, he moved up to the Elite League with

Wolverhampton Wolves Wolverhampton Wolves were a British motorcycle speedway team based in Wolverhampton, England. They were champions of the United Kingdom five times and raced at Monmore Green Stadium from 1928 to 2023. History 1928–1930 Speedway (known ...

, but after losing his place in the team returned to the Monarchs for a short spell, later moving to

Berwick Bandits The Berwick Bandits are a British speedway club, based in Berwick-upon-Tweed. They currently compete in the SGB Championship, racing at Shielfield Park, with home matches usually taking place on Saturday evenings. They also run a second team ...

. He lost his team place once again, but later that season won the European Grasstrack Championship for a second time. He joined Elite League team

Swindon Robins The Swindon Robins are a motorcycle speedway team from England, established in 1949 that have competed primarily in the top division of speedway league competition in the United Kingdom. They are five times league champions of the United Kingdo ...

in 2008, but lost his place in June, going on to a spell with

Mildenhall Fen Tigers The Mildenhall Fen Tigers are a British speedway team, founded in 1975, who last raced in the National Development League during 2023. History 1970s The original track was built in 1971 on farm land owned by Terry Waters, with Bernie Kla ...

in the Premier League. He returned to British speedway in 2011 with Glasgow Tigers, with whom he won the Premier League in both 2011 and 2012, and also signed with Elite League

Birmingham Brummies Birmingham Brummies are a British Motorcycle speedway, speedway team founded in 1928. They were inaugural members of the Southern League (1929–31), Southern League in 1929. The team have twice finished runner-up in the highest tier of Britis ...

as their number eight. In 2012, he returned to the Edinburgh Monarchs team, and was part of the 2013

Premier League Four-Team Championship The SGB Championship Fours formerly the Premier League Four-Team Championship is a contest between teams competing in the second tier of speedway in the United Kingdom. Teams are grouped into fours, with one rider from each team in each race. The ...

winning team. In 2018 he signed to ride for the

Redcar Bears The Redcar Bears are a British motorcycle speedway team who compete in the SGB Championship (second tier of the British speedway leagues). The club was founded in 2006 and their major team honour to date is the SGB Championship Knockout Cup wi ...

. After a season with Scunthorpe in 2021 he rejoined Berwick Bandits for the

SGB Championship 2022 The 2022 SGB Championship season is the 75th season of the second tier of British Speedway and the 5th known as the SGB Championship. Summary Eleven clubs competed in the Championship in 2022, with Oxford returning to the sport after a 15-yea ...

. Pijper represented the Netherlands national long track team in the World Longtrack Championship from 2007 to 2022 and twice won the World championship titles at the 2013 Team Long Track World Championship in Folkestone, England and 2016 Team Long Track World Championship in

Mariánské Lázně Mariánské Lázně (; ) is a spa town in Cheb District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. Most of the town's buildings come from its Golden Era in the second half of the 19th century, when many c ...

in the Czech Republic.

World Longtrack

Grand Prix Years

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

- 1 app (25th) 3pts *

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

- 2 app (14th) 23pts *

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

- 5 app (14th) 30pts *

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

- 4 app (6th) 45pts *

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

- 5 app (5th) 72pts *

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

- 6 app (6th) 64pts *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

- 5 app (5th) 63pts *

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

- 3 app (7th) 40pts *

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

- 3 app (4th) 48pts *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

- 3 app (7th) 36pts *

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

- 4 app (5th) 55pts *

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

- 5 app (6th) 75pts *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

- 6 app (Second) 120pts *

- 6 app (4th) 96pts *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

- 6 app (4th) 124pts *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

- 6 app (14th) 52pts *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

- 2 app (11th) 31pts *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

- 4 app (4th) 61pts *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

- 5 app (4th) 83pts *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

- 5 app (6th) 63pts *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

- 5 app (6th) 64pts *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

- 5 app (6th) 66pts *

- 2 app (6th) 26pts *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

- 2 app (Third) 24pts *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

- 5 app (6th) 61pts

Grand-Prix podiums

Vechta Vechta (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Vechte'') is the capital and largest city of the Vechta (district), Vechta district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is home to the University of Vechta. It is known for the 'Stoppelmarkt' fair, which takes place every ...

First 2008, Second 2006 *

Forus Forus is an industrial district in the city of Stavanger which lies in the southwestern part of the large municipality of Stavanger in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the borough of Hinna, along the Gandsfjorden and it stretches south ...

First 2011 *

New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

Second 2004 * Morizes Second 2011, Third 2013 *

Second 2010 *

Scheeßel Scheeßel (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Scheeßl'') is a municipality in the district of Rotenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Wümme, approx. 10 km northeast of Rotenburg, 45 km east of Bremen, and 70 km sou ...

Third 2001 *

Mühldorf Mühldorf am Inn (, ; Central Bavarian: ''Muihdorf am Inn'') is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Mühldorf (district), district Mühldorf on the river Inn (river), Inn. It is located at , and had a population of ab ...

Third 2005 * St Macaire Third 2010 *

Marmande Marmande (; in Occitan language, Occitan, ''Marmanda'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Lot-et-Garonne ''Departments of France, département'' in south-western France. Geography Marmande is located 35 km north-west of Agen, on the ...

Third 2010 *

Forssa Forssa is a Cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located almost in the centre of a triangle defined by the three largest major cities in Finland (Helsinki, Turku and Tampere), in the Tavastia Prop ...

Third 2012 *

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

Third 2012

European Grasstrack Championship The European Grasstrack Championship is a motorcycle championship and is organised by FIM Europe. The first championship took place in 1978 at Hereford Racecourse, England, and was won by Chris Baybutt. The competitors qualified though two semi- ...

* 1999

Werlte Werlte is a town in the Emsland district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. History Werlte was a host city of the 2008 Team Long Track World Championship; the championship was won by Germany. Economy Werlte is home to a factory of the Krone company. T ...

(NS) * 2000 Did not compete * 2001 Noordwolde (4th) 18pts * 2002 Berghaupten (5th) 19pts * 2003

La Reole LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

(6th) 16pts * 2004

(Champion) 19pts * 2005 Did not compete * 2006

(Second) 18pts * 2007

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

(Champion) 16pts * 2008 Did not compete * 2009 Berghaupten (6th) 13pts * 2010

(Second) 12pts * 2011

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 21,128 as of 2021 ...

(10th) 10pts * 2012 Semi-finalist * 2013 Did not compete * 2014 Did not compete * 2015 Semi-finalist

Personal life

His son Ace Pijper is also a professional speedway rider.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pijper, Theo 1980 births Living people Dutch speedway riders Swindon Robins riders Edinburgh Monarchs riders Expatriate speedway riders in Scotland Berwick Bandits riders Dutch expatriate speedway riders in England Mildenhall Fen Tigers riders People from Dantumadiel Sportspeople from Friesland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Denmark