Trelawny Tigers operated as a British

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 ...

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

team from 2001 to 2003 at the Clay Country Moto Parc in

St Austell Saint Austell (, ; ) is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. At the 2021 Census in the United Kingdom, census it had a population of 20,900. History St Austell was a village centred ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England.

History

At the end of the 2000 speedway season a team called

St Austell Gulls The St Austell Gulls were a speedway team which operated from 1949 until their closure in 1964 at the Cornish Stadium at Par, St Austell in Cornwall. In 1997 the team rode at the Clay Country Moto Parc until the club finally closed in 2000. ...

handed their lease at the Clay Country Moto Parc to new promoters. However, the new promotion encountered problems in early 2001 when the team who would be known as the Trelawny Tigers were initially stopped from operating due to the

2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease on farms across most of the British countryside. Over 6 million cows and ...

. Trelawny Tigers joined the

(division 2) and rider Chris Harris was brought in to lead the team. The Tigers finished 14th in their inaugural 2001 Premier League speedway season. The team enjoyed limited success on track, the highlight being winning the 2002

Premier Trophy The Major League Tournament (formerly known as the Premier Trophy) is the main domestic first-class cricket competition in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1938 and has existed under a number of different names. Matches before the 1988–89 seas ...

competition after defeating

Sheffield Tigers The Sheffield Tigers (sponsored by Tru Plant) 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. They were founded in 1929 an ...

over two legs. The club were responsible for bringing Slovenian

Matej Žagar Matej Žagar (born 3 April 1983 in Ljubljana, Slovenia) is a Slovenian motorcycle speedway rider who was won two Individual Speedway European Champion titles in 2008 Individual Speedway European Championship, 2008 and 2009 Individual Speedway E ...

into British League Scene in 2003 and he firmly established himself as one of the Premier League's top riders. The track record holder was Argentinian Emiliano Sanchez. In 2003, the club also ran a junior team known as the Trelawny Pitbulls who competed in the Conference Trophy competition. After the 2003 season (in which the Tigers finished 8th) the team was disbanded.

Track

The track, 230m in length, was unique in its setting being situated in a disused

china clay Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedron, tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen ...

pit near

. The compact track was renowned throughout the league for the quality of its preparation and the racing it produced.

Season summary

References

Defunct speedway teams in the United Kingdom Sport in Cornwall Sports clubs and teams established in 2001 Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 2003 2001 establishments in England 2003 disestablishments in England {{motorcycle-speedway-team-stub