Workington Comets have completed their line-up for 2023 with their number one – an Australian who has pledged his future to Great Britain.
Connor Bailey, 22, started his speedway career at the age of 12 in junior events at the Pinjar Park track in Perth, Western Australia.
After spending two seasons racing and winning numerous trophies in the 125cc class, his family decided they needed to move to the eastern side of the country, settling in Mildura in Victoria, where more variety of tracks gave the opportunity to progress further.
Coming over to the UK he joined Glasgow for the 2019 Championship season, making 26 appearances for the Tigers, gaining a match average of 3.36 and also appearing for the Belle Vue Colts in the National Development League.
Covid then ruled out racing in 2020 and having returned to Australia for a family wedding subsequent restrictions on travel meant he had to remain Down Under for over a year before being able to return to Scotland to resume racing with Glasgow.
As well as riding for the Tigers in both 2021 and 2022 he was also named as number 8 for Premier League Belle Vue Aces and was included in the squad which claimed the league title with a play-off victory over Sheffield last season.
Not retained by Glasgow for the upcoming term he is, at the time of writing, without a team place in the Championship, but his record at that level will without doubt see him claim a doubling up role, to be combined with his Comets commitments, before the start of the new season.
Despite being born and raised in Australia, Connor by virtue of his heritage, has pledged his future to Great Britain, a decision which allows him to compete in the sports third tier of racing where he has already shown his pedigree with a creditable third place finish in the 2022 British Under 21 Final.
Like the new Comets captain Luke Crang, Connor will bring much experience to the 2023 team and coming in with an average of 8.86, the rider known as The Tornado, will start as The Comets number one for their comeback season.
The seven riders now revealed start with a combined average of 41.78 points, just 0.22 below the National League points limit for team declarations set at 42.
