Ricky Wells (born 27 July 1991 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, New Zealand), is an American international

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 was the 2009 USA National Champion and a two time U.S. Under 21 National Champion. He has been an international rider for the USA in the

Speedway World Cup The Speedway World Cup is an annual speedway event held each year in different countries. The first edition of the competition in the current format was held in 2001 and replaced the old World Team Cup which ran from 1960 until 2000. The last edi ...

US National Championship

On 19 September 2009 Ricky won the

United States Individual Speedway Championship The United States Speedway National Championship is an annual speedway championship to decide one of the two national champions of the United States. The Championship has always been staged at Costa Mesa Speedway and dates back to 1969. Since 199 ...

, winning all of his heat races and the main event. He became the youngest rider to ever win that event. He was victorious over former US Champions like, Billy Janniro,

Bobby Schwartz Robert Benjamin 'Bobby' Schwartz (born August 10, 1956) is an American professional speedway rider. He became World Pairs Champion with Bruce Penhall in 1981 and Dennis Sigalos in 1982. Career Born in Santa Barbara, California, Schwartz was in ...

Charlie Venegas Charlie Venegas (born February 12, 1967 in San Bernardino, California, United States) is a professional motorcycle speedway, speedway rider in the United States. He represented the USA speedway team, USA in the 2007 Speedway World Cup. Venegas ...

Chris Manchester Chris Manchester (born 28 June 1973) is a former speedway rider from the United States. Speedway career Manchester is a former North American Champion, winning the AMA National Speedway Championship The AMA National Speedway Championship is ...

Mike Faria Mike Faria (born 4 March 1957) is a former speedway rider from the United States. Speedway career Faria is a three times North American champion, winning the AMA National Speedway Championship The AMA National Speedway Championship is an an ...

and Josh Larsen.

World U21

Wells made his first appearance in the World Under 21 Championships in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

by winning the 2007 U.S. Under 21 National Championship. He scored 9 points in Qualifying Round 1 held in Norden, Germany which qualified him to move onto Semi-Final Round 1 held in Rye House. Only scoring 6 points which did not qualify him to move onto The Final Round. Wells came home and won the 2008 U.S. Under 21 National Championship also which placed him in the 2009 World Under 21 Championships. Scoring 9, and beating off Pawel Zmarzlik and

Kozza Smith Kozza Smith (born Korey Williams on 20 March 1988 in Cessnock, New South Wales) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Australia. Career history Smith began racing at the age of 14 in Australian junior speedway and in 2006, he won the ...

in a race-off, in Qualifying Round 3 held in Rye House moved him into Semi-Final 2 held in

Kumla Kumla is a locality and the seat of Kumla Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with a population of 21,640 as of 2018. Geography Kumla is situated roughly 15 kilometres south of neighbouring city Örebro, and is connected to its much larger ...

. In Kumla, Ricky scored 5 and again was in a race-off situation, in which he beat

Justin Sedgmen Justin Maxwell Sedgmen (born 17 February 1992) is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider. Career Junior career Born in Mildura, Victoria, Justin Sedgmen and his older brother Ryan (born December 1990) began their speedway careers at Mildura ...

and Patrik Pawlaszczyk to securing a reserve spot in the Final held in

Goričan Goričan ( hu, Muracsány) is a municipality in Međimurje County, Croatia. Goričan is the only village belonging to the municipality. Its population in the 2011 census was 2,823. Of the entire population, 2,763 people identified themselves as Cr ...

. Through the injury off Przemyslaw Pawlicki, Wells was awarded a place in the main line-up of the Final, where he scored 2 points, finishing in 16th place, ahead of Ludvig Lindgren.

British speedway

Wells rode for Elite League

Coventry Bees Coventry Bees were a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon near Coventry, England. History A Coventry team was first formed in 1928 and competed in the inaugural season of the Souther ...

in 2009 and for the

Stoke Potters The Stoke Potters previously the Hanley Potters were a British speedway team competing in the National League. As Stoke, the team raced at Loomer Road Stadium in Newcastle-under-Lyme. As Hanley Potters they raced from 1929 to 1963. History ...

in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

in 2010 on loan from Coventry. In 2011 he rode for the

Elite Shield The Elite Shield later Charity Shield (2018) and Premiership Shield (2019) was a motorcycle speedway competition held in the United Kingdom for the highest league at the time. Like football's Community Shield, it was contested for by the winners ...

-winning

Wolverhampton Wolves Wolverhampton Wolves are a British speedway team based in Wolverhampton, England. They are sponsored by Parry's International Travel, and signed a deal with owner Dave Parry (previous speedway rider for the Wolverhampton Wolves) for the 20 ...

team in the Elite League and Plymouth Devils in the Premier. He has remained with Wolves since, while riding for

Sheffield Tigers The Sheffield 'Tru Plant' Tigers are a motorcycle speedway team based in Sheffield, England. They currently race in the British SGB Premiership, and their home meetings take place at Owlerton Stadium. The Tigers traditionally hold their race ...

in the Premier League since 2012. In 2022, he rode for 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 ...

in the SGB Championship 2022.

Honours

World Championships

* Team World Championship (

) ** ''

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

- 4th place in the Qualifying Round 2'' * Individual Under-21 World Championship ** ''

- 12th placed in the Semi-Final One'' **

- 16th place (2 pts)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Ricky 1991 births Living people American speedway riders New Zealand expatriates in the United States Coventry Bees riders Stoke Potters riders Plymouth Devils riders Sheffield Tigers riders Wolverhampton Wolves riders