Great Britain national speedway team

The Great Britain national speedway team (formerly the England speedway team) is one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway. The team is managed by former Great Britain riders Oliver Allen and Simon Stead, and captained by the Tai Woffinden.

The team raced as England from 1928 to 1961 and again from 1974 to 2000. They have raced as Great Britain from 1962 to 1973 and since 2001.

History
The national speedway team held test matches against the Australia as early as 1928, although the first official test match is listed as 30 June 1930 at Wimbledon Stadium.

The team won the Speedway World Team Cup on five occasions as England and four times as Great Britain from 1968 to 1989. They were a major force in the 1970s, winning five consecutive tournaments, two as England and three as Great Britain. Key riding members of the title wins include Peter Collins (five wins), Malcolm Simmons (four wins), New Zealand born Ivan Mauger and Ray Wilson (all three wins). Prior to 1974, the Great Britain team often consisted of riders from other Commonwealth Nations including Australia and New Zealand.

The cup eluded the team after 1989, although they came close in 2000, missing out when Mark Loram fell in a race-off and 2004 where a team of Mark Loram, Lee Richardson, Gary Havelock, David Norris and Scott Nicholls missed out by one point. Both the 2000 and 2004 narrow defeats were at the hands of Sweden and both in somewhat controversial fashion.

In June 2018, Great Britain competed as one of 15 nations in the inaugural Speedway of Nations tournament and in August 2018, Great Britain hosted a top-level international test match for the first time in over 15 years when they took on Australia at Glasgow's Peugeot Ashfield Stadium.

At the 2021 Speedway of Nations in Manchester, Team GB ended a 32 years drought. After finishing third in qualifying, they beat Denmark 6–3 in the Grand Final qualifier and then beat Poland in the Grand Final 5–4. The winning team included Robert Lambert, Dan Bewley and Tai Woffinden. The team subsequently won the 2024 Speedway of Nations.

International caps (as of 2022)
Since the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix era, international caps earned by riders is largely restricted to international competitions, whereas previously test matches between two teams were a regular occurrence. This means that the number of caps earned by a rider has decreased in the modern era.

Managers

 * 1975–1975 (Reg Fearman)
 * 1975–1976 (John Berry)
 * 1976-1976 (Len Silver)
 * 1977–1978 (John Berry)
 * 1979–1980 (Colin Pratt)
 * 1980–1980 (Ian Thomas)
 * 1981-1981 (Len Silver)
 * 1982-1982 (Eric Boocock)
 * 1983-1984 (Wally Mawdsley)
 * 1984–1984 (Carl Glover)
 * 1984–1985 (John Berry)
 * 1982 & 1986–1993 (Eric Boocock)
 * 1986–1993 (Colin Pratt)
 * 1994–1998 (John Louis)
 * 1994–1994 (James Easter)
 * 1998–2001 (Dave Jessup)
 * 2001–2008 (Neil Middleditch)
 * 2009–2010 (Rob Lyon)
 * 2011–2013 (Neil Middleditch)
 * 2014–2019 (Alun Rossiter)
 * 2019– (Oliver Allen)
 * 2019– (Simon Stead)