Darcy Ward

Darcy Ward
Personal information
Nationality	Australia
Date of birth	4 May 1992 (1992-05-04) (age 19)
Place of birth	Nanango, Queensland
Nickname	Darky
Website	DarcyWardRacing.com
Current club information
British league	Poole Pirates
Polish league	Gdańsk
Swedish league	Dackarna
Career history
Great Britain King's Lynn Stars Poole Pirates Poland Unibax Toruń Germany AC Landshut	2009 2010- 2009 2009
Individual honours
Under-21 World Champion Australian Under-21 Champion Queensland Under-21 Champion NSW State Champion	2009, 2010 2009, 2010, 2011 2009 2010
Team honours
Premier League winner Permier league KO Cup winner Premier Trophy	2009 2009 2009

Darcy Stephen Ward^[1] (born 4 May 1992 in Nanango, Queensland) is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider who won the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Australian Under-21 Championships as well as the 2009 and 2010 World Under-21 Championships. He is currently riding for Poole Pirates in the British Elite League.

Career history

2009

In the 2009 season he will ride for Unibax Toruń (Poland), King's Lynn Stars (Great Britain).^[2] and AC Landshut (Germany).^[3] Ward's first meeting in the Polish Ekstraliga was the Pomeranian-Kuyavian Derby between Toruń and Bydgoszcz at Polonia Stadium. In this match he scored seven points and one bonus (2,1*,0,1,3). Toruń won his meeting 51-39.^[4] Unibax Toruń won regular season and after play-off qualify to the Ekstraliga Final. In the final meetings, Ward scoring 11 points and his team lost to Falubaz Zielona Góta 80:88. In total, Ward scoring 63 points, 11 bonus points in 53 heats (10 meetings) and was qualify on 34th place (Average 1.396).^[5]

Ward won the 2009 World Under-21 Championship in Goričan, Croatia with 13 points. He also rode for Australia team at the Under-21 World Cup. In a Qualifying Round One he scored a maximum 15 points, but Australia finished third and were knocked out of the competition.

2011

In January 2011, Darcy became Australian Under-21 Champion for the third time and emulating Chris Holder and Leigh Adams in claiming a straight hat-trick of titles. In the 2011 season, starting in March, Ward will ride for Poole Pirates (Great Britain), Lejonen (Sweden) and Gdańsk (Poland). On Saturday, 27 August Darcy made his FIM Speedway Grand Prix debut as a Wildcard in Toruń, one of his former clubs. It took a while for Ward to settle into the meeting, claiming 3rds in his first two rides. In his third ride, Darcy announced himself in style with a hard fought win over Championship leader Greg Hancock and World Champion Tomasz Gollob in heat 12 and in heat 13 Darcy scored another win to secure his place in the semi-final. Darcy finished his qualification heats with a second place in heat 18, with a place in the first semi he was second to pick and chose gate two. In the heat he had taken an early lead ahead of Andreas Jonsson and scored his third heat win of the night. From gate two against in the final, a nervous Darcy moved at the first run of the heat but didn't touch the tapes. In the rerun Darcy battled hard into the first bend and had the lead for a split second but was past by Jonsson and home rider Jaroslaw Hampel down the back straight, although he tried his best he couldn't find a way past the pair. Darcy claimed 3rd, finishing his GP debut with a podium place.

Personal life

His father, Brian Ward, was a speedway rider also.^[6]

Career detail

World Championships

Individual U-21 World Championship

• 2009 - Goričan - Winner - 13pts
• 2010 - // - Winner - 35pts +3pts

Team U-21 World Championship (Under-21 World Cup)

• 2009 - 3rd place in Qualifying Round 1
• 2010 - 2nd place in the Qualifying Round One

Domestic competitions

Australian Championship

• 2009 - 9th - 31pts
• 2010 - 3rd - 51pts

Australian Under-21 Championship

• 2009 - Winner - 14pts
• 2010 - Winner - 11pts (3rd) - 1st in Final

Team Polish Championship (Speedway Ekstraliga)

• 2009 - 2nd for Unibax Toruń (Average 1.396)

See also

• Australia national speedway team, Australian Under-21 Team

References

1. ^ "Toruń - Bydgoszcz" (in Polish). SpeedwayEkstraliga.pl. http://www.speedwayekstraliga.pl/wyniki/2009/03/byd-tor.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-30. 
2. ^ Świat Żużla, No 1 (77) 2009, pages 12-13 ISSN 1429-3285
3. ^ Świat Żużla, No 3 (79) 2009, page 19 ISSN 1429-3285
4. ^ "Jeden Emil to za mało - relacja z meczu Polonia Bydgoszcz - Unibax Toruń 39:51" (in Polish). SportoweFakty.pl. 2009-04-19. http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2009/04/19/jeden-emil-za-malo-relacja-z-meczu-polonia-bydgoszcz-unibax-/. Retrieved 2009-06-30. 
5. ^ Świat Żużla, No 4 (80) 2009, pages 4, 12-14 ISSN 1429-3285
6. ^ "Darcy Ward: Mój ojciec był żużlowcem" (in Polish). SportoweFakty.pl. 2010-03-24. http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2010/03/24/darcy-ward-moj-ojciec-byl-zuzlowcem/. Retrieved 2010-03-24. 

External links

• Official webside

Persondata
Name	Ward, Darcy Stephen
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	4 May 1992
Place of birth	Nanango, Australia
Date of death
Place of death