David Norris (speedway rider)

David Norris
Personal information
Nationality	England
Date of birth	20 August 1972 (1972-08-20) (age 39)
Place of birth	Eastbourne, England
Nickname	Floppy
Current club information
British league	Eastbourne Eagles
Career history
Eastbourne Eagles Ipswich Witches Reading Racers Wybrzeże Gdańsk (POL) KS Toruń (POL) Valsarna (SWE) Vargarna (SWE)	1988-1989, 1993-1994, 1996-2007, 2009 1990, 1991-1993 1995 1995-1996 1999 2000-2003 2005
Individual honours
None
Team honours
Elite League Elite League KO Cup British League Four Team	2000 1994, 1997, 2002 1991

David Michael Norris (born 20 August 1972, in Eastbourne, England)^[1] is a former British international motorcycle speedway rider. he also has a wife Ellie and two sons Ashley and Jack.

Career

Norris had stints with Reading and Ipswich, but primarily rode for the Eastbourne Eagles in the Elite League. In 2007 he overtook Gordon Kennett as the Eagles' leading scorer, accumulating 5,197 points from just 577 meetings. He burst onto the world scene in 2004, aged 32, when adopting a new 'more professional' attitude towards the sport, going on to appear as a wild card in the British Speedway Grand Prix in 2004 and 2005.^[2]

Retirement

A succession of injuries dogged him in 2006 and 2007 though and he announced his retirement from speedway in October 2007. He said: "I'm at a stage now where I can't take another hit on my head or neck. If I didn’t have kids and my wife I might consider carrying on, but you can’t just live for yourself."^[3] However, after holding talks with his doctor and family, Norris came out of retirement and will once again ride for the Eastbourne Eagles during the 2009 season, assisted in the pits by Dean Barker.^[4]

References

1. ^ Oakes, P.(2004). British Speedway Who's Who. ISBN 0-948882-81-6
2. ^ Bamford, Robert (2007-03-01). Tempus Speedway Yearbook 2007. NPI Media Group. ISBN 0752442503. 
3. ^ "Norris retires from Eagles". www.elite-eagles.com. 31 October 2007. http://www.elite-eagles.com/2007/latest/papers-norris-retires-from-eagles.html. Retrieved 2007-10-31. 
4. ^ "Norris ready and raring to go". The Argus. 2008. http://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/speedway/eaglesnews/3976143.Norris_ready_and_raring_to_go/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 

Persondata
Name	Norris, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	20 August 1972
Place of birth	Eastbourne, England
Date of death
Place of death