Newly installed Great Britain team boss Alun Rossiter has selected his first line-up, which will race against a Rest of the World team in the Speedway Riders Benevolent Fund meeting at Leicester on Sunday 9th March (2.00 pm).
Rossiter has named Tai Woffinden, Lewis Bridger, Chris Harris, Danny King, Craig Cook, Kyle Howarth, Ritchie Worrall and Ben Barker for the fixture which will be the opening meeting of the 2014 British season. Rossiter was at pains to stress that this is his first side of the new era, and the door isn’t closed to any rider.
“Managing Great Britain, of course it has always been an ambition of mine, progressing from riding, team managing, representing your country at the highest level is always a feather in anyone’s cap.
“There’s a lot of negativity around, too much negativity in my eyes, we’re not as bad as people make us out to be. We just need to be a little bit more upbeat about ourselves, a bit more positive.
“I like to be upbeat otherwise there is no point in doing it. I’ve got to sit down with the chairman, we’ve already spoken a bit, but I want to discuss what we can do. I want to do something as a team but I need to know what the boundaries are, what we can and can’t do.
“I’ve given Tai the captaincy, I just thought that Chris ‘Bomber’ Harris didn’t have the best of seasons last year and so I’ve taken the pressure off him to let him focus on himself a little bit. He’s back in the Grand Prix and now he can worry about getting himself in the right frame of mind instead of worrying about everybody else.
The fixture at Leicester will mark the first occasion to see the World Champion Tai Woffinden race on a British track since he won the title in Poland last season.
“I’ve not been to Leicester so the Ben Fund meeting will be a new experience for me. I’ve heard good things about it. I think the team we will be tracking has potential, it has a bit of youth and a bit of experience, and an important thing to say is that the door isn’t shut to anybody else. This is my first official fixture and I want to stress that I’m not excluding anyone” added Rossiter.
The Speedway Riders Benevolent Fund exists solely for the purpose of assisting speedway riders who have become seriously injured, been forced into long-term sickness from their work, or whose lives have been devastated as a result of accidents whilst racing speedway for British-based teams.
It helps in many different ways, including the purchasing of items such as wheelchairs and other facilities to assist with disabilities of the beneficiaries, as well as providing assistance in areas such as alterations to living accommodation. Over the past three years, the fund has helped 120 riders with over £150,000 of assistance.
