Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I want to recognise the achievements of Darcy Ward from Camira in my electorate of Oxley. Darcy is a young man who at the tender age of just 19 years is a two-time world under-21 speedway champion. Darcy competes professionally in Europe and is mainly based in Britain. As we know, speedway is very big in Britain and in Europe but it is much loved here in Australia as well. He started his career in Britain in 2008 and since 2009 he has been competing with the premier league club Kings Lynn. He has finished the 2009 season with the highest points average in the premier league.

In 2009 he won the league with the Kings Lynn club, and closer to home he also won the Queensland under-21 championship, the Australian under-21 championship and in October 2009 he won the world under-21 championship in Croatia as well. This is an outstanding achievement, a great track record and demonstrates once again the great talent that we have in this country.

In 2010 Darcy made the transition to the elite league in Britain. He helped his new team reach the end of the season play-offs where, unfortunately, they just missed out on the title. In 2010 Darcy won the New South Wales under-21 championship as well as the Australian under-21 championship. Remarkably, he also went on to defend his title and to win the world under-21 championships again. He is only the second ever rider in history to do that and retain his title. In January of this year he also won the Australian under-21 title for a third time. Darcy is a household name in the world of speedway, and he should also be one in Australia.