Carl Adam Wilkinson (born 16 May 1981) 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

Born in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, England, Wilkinson started his career with the Peterborough Panthers in the Conference League in 1997 a week before his sixteenth birthday. It took another two seasons before he was awarded a regular Conference League ride when he was signed by his local club, the Boston Barracudas in 2000. Wilkinson has ridden for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

at under-21 level. He won the Conference League with the Peterborough Pumas in 1997 and the Conference League KO Cup with the

Boston Barracudas The Boston Barracudas were a Motorcycle speedway, speedway team that competed from 1970 to 1987 and again from 2000 to 2008. the team were based at Boston Sports Stadium in New Hammond Beck Road, Boston, Lincolnshire. History Origins and 19 ...

in 2000. He was retained by Boston for 2001, but 2002 saw him signed up by the

Newport Wasps Newport Wasps were a British motorcycle speedway team based at Somerton Park and then the Hayley Stadium in Newport, Wales, Newport, South Wales, from 1964 to 2012. The Wasps logo incorporates the traditional black and amber colours of the City ...

for their Premier League team, where he recorded a 4.35 average in his first season. He improved that figure to 4.95 in 2003. He recorded a 4.82

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

in 2004 but was forced out of their line-up in 2005 due to the points limit. Wilkinson was not offered a team place with a Premier League club in 2005 so he rejoined the Barracudas in the Conference League. His form did not go unnoticed by the

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 ...

and in June was signed up to ride for the rest of the season. The 2006 season saw Wilkinson return his parent club Newport and he finished second of their team averages on 6.99. He was snapped up by the Newcastle Diamonds in 2007 and finished the season with an average of 6.32. He also made nine appearances for the

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 ...

, recording an Elite League average of just over three. The

Scunthorpe Scorpions The Scunthorpe Scorpions are a motorcycle speedway team in the British SGB Championship. They have raced at various times since 1971, at three different venues. History Origins and 1970s Speedway in Scunthorpe began on 3 May 1971 at the ...

signed Wilkinson on a full transfer from Newport for their maiden Premier League season in 2008 and he stayed until 2011. In 2009, he shared a reserve berth in the Elite League for the Ipswich Witches. From 2012 to 2015 he rode for

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 ...

in the Premier League, moving back to Scunthorpe Scorpions in 2015. In 2016, he rode for Scunthorpe and also returned to the Elite League riding at reserve for King's Lynn. He spent 2017 with Scunthorpebefore one final season with Newcastle in 2018. He retired after the 2018 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Carl Adam Living people 1981 births British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Newport Wasps riders Berwick Bandits riders Ipswich Witches riders Newcastle Diamonds riders Peterborough Panthers riders Glasgow Tigers riders Scunthorpe Scorpions riders Redcar Bears riders