Joe Screen
Born (1972-11-27) 27 November 1972 (age 51)
Chesterfield, England
NationalityBritish (English)
Career history
Great Britain
1989-1993, 1998, 2003-2008Belle Vue
1994-1997Bradford
1999Hull
2000-2003Eastbourne
2009Poole
2010Wolverhampton
2010-2013Glasgow
2011, 2012Birmingham
2013Coventry
Poland
1992, 1994-1997Częstochowa
1993Tarnów
1998-1999Rzeszów
2000Bydgoszcz
2002Gorzów
2003Piła
2004Ostrów
Sweden
1993-1994, 1996-2001Getingarna
1997-2002Dackarna
2003Valsarna
2004Vargarna
Individual honours
1993World Under 21 Champion
1990, 1993British Under 21 Champion
1992British League Riders' Champion
1996, 2004British Champion
Team honours
1992Elite League Four-Team
1993British League Champion
1995, 2002, 2005Elite League KO Cup
1997, 2000Elite League Champion

Joseph Screen (born 27 November 1972 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire),[1] is a former British international motorcycle speedway rider. His major speedway honours include winning the World Under-21 Championship in 1993, the British Championship in 1996 and 2004, and the British League Riders' Championship in 1992.[2] He earned 37 international caps for the England national speedway team and 7 caps for the Great Britain team.[3]

Career

Screen began riding motorcycles at the age of four, and gained his early experience on a 50cc motocross bike.[4] After competing in motocross and grasstrack he started to compete in speedway at the age of fourteen.[4] Screen left home aged just 16 and would be riding at the highest level aged 17.[5]

Screen started his speedway career with the Belle Vue Aces in 1989 in the top tier of British League racing.[6] He soon became a top rider and made his debut for the England team in 1991.

In August 1992, he won the bronze medal at the 1992 Speedway Under-21 World Championship, which left him disappointed because he had high hopes of winning the event.[7] However, he gained consolation by winning the British League Riders' Championship held at Odsal Stadium on 3 October 1992.[8]

The following year in 1993, Screen made up for his 1992 U21 defeat by winning the 1993 Individual Speedway Junior World Championship. He was still eligible for the championship because he was 20 years of age.[9]

In 1994, he transferred to the Bradford Dukes, where he spent the next four seasons. Screen won his first of two British Speedway Championships in 1996. He also rode in the Speedway Grand Prix series between 1996 until 2001 (when he had to withdraw after breaking his thigh) and as a wild card in the British Grand Prix in 2002, appearing in 21 Grands Prix and scoring a total of 159 points.[10]

A year back at Belle Vue Aces in 1998, was followed by a solitary season with the Hull Vikings. The next four seasons were spent with the Eastbourne Eagles before returning 'home' to Belle Vue in 2003, and enjoying a testimonial season the following year.[10] Screen became British Champion again in 2004.

After being released by Belle Vue following the 2008 season, Screen joined Elite League champions the Poole Pirates on loan for 2009, after losing 27 lbs in response to concerns over his weight.[10][11] Despite improving his average over the season he was not retained by Poole. After failing to get an Elite League offer he agreed a two-year deal with Premier League Glasgow Tigers, but an appeal against his converted 12-point greensheet average was turned down, almost forcing him to retire.[10] He was given a lifeline with a short-term deal with Wolverhampton Wolves for 2010, until Adam Skornicki returned from injury.[10][12] His spell with Wolves saw his average drop sufficiently to fit into the Glasgow Tigers team, which he joined in May 2010, signing as a club asset for 2011, when he captained Glasgow to win both the Premier League Championship and the Premier League Pairs (alongside James Grieves).[13][14] He also rode for Birmingham Brummies in the Elite League in 2011 and 2012 in a doubling-up capacity.[10][15] In 2013 he rode for Coventry Bees in the Elite League as cover for the injured Adam Roynon, but after getting injured himself, his tenure there was short-lived.[16]

Screen rode in the Polish leagues from 1992 to 2007 for various clubs in the Team Speedway Polish Championship. His most successful spell was with Włókniarz Częstochowa and was part of the team that won the league title during the 1996 Polish speedway season.[17]

Screen has also been involved in coaching young speedway riders and ran an academy at Buxton.[4]

Screen also competed in grasstrack and longtrack motorcycle racing. His grasstrack career included winning both the British 350cc Championship and the British 350cc Best Pairs in 1989, reaching the World Longtrack Final in 1993 and 1994, and British Masters Championship wins in 1992 and 1995.[18]

Screen riding during 2007

Screen announced in June 2013 that he would be retiring from racing at the end of the season after 25 years in British league speedway,[19] but a hand injury sustained in August brought his season to a premature end.[20]

Retirement

After retiring from speedway Screen opened the Daresbury Boarding Kennels, which he owns with his wife Lindsay.[5]

World Final Appearances

Individual World Championship

World Pairs Championship

World Team Cup

World Cup

Individual Under-21 World Championship

Speedway Grand Prix results

Year Position Points Best Finish Notes
1996 13th 38 8th
1997 19th 8 8th
1998 27th 5 12th
1999 6th 68 4th
2000 16th 34 10th
2002 29th 6 10th

World Longtrack Championship

Finalist

Grand-Prix

British Masters Grasstrack Championship

First

Second

References

  1. ^ Oakes, P.(2004). British Speedway Who's Who. ISBN 0-948882-81-6
  2. ^ Montague, Trevor (2004). The A-Z of Sport. Little, Brown. p. 529. ISBN 0-316-72645-1.
  3. ^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Carlisle, Alex (2010) "Joe Screen - Derbyshire's Speedway star", derbyshirelife.co.uk, 29 April 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2013
  5. ^ a b "Brits No.2 Joe Screen". Speedway Star pages 24-25. 17 December 2022.
  6. ^ "2008 Rider index" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  7. ^ "Screen's luck runs out". Manchester Evening News. 24 August 1992. Retrieved 9 March 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ "Speedway". Western Daily Press. 5 October 1992. Retrieved 6 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ "Joe's king - thanks to pals". Manchester Evening News. 16 August 1993. Retrieved 9 March 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ a b c d e f "Rider Index", speedwaygb.co. Retrieved 20 June 2013
  11. ^ Chard, Phil (2009) "No more big Screen for star Joe", Bournemouth Daily Echo, 16 March 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2013
  12. ^ "Skornicki to sit out season", skysports.com, 28 April 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2013
  13. ^ Swan, Craig (2010) "Speedway ace Joe Screen vows to give Tigers a boost", Daily Record, 14 June 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2013
  14. ^ "Screen joins Poole". Manchester Evening News. 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
  15. ^ Pearson, Nigel (2012) "Speedway: Birmingham sign up Joe Screen", Birmingham Mail, 20 July 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2013
  16. ^ Carpenter, Steve (2013) "Bees sign Joe Screen as Adam Roynon recovers from crash Archived 16 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine", Coventry Observer, 2 April 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013
  17. ^ "Joseph (Joe) Screen Wielka Brytania". Polish Speedway Database. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  18. ^ "Joe Screen", grasstrackgb.co.uk. Retrieved 20 June 2013
  19. ^ "Screen Set to Retire", speedway365.com, 19 June 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013
  20. ^ "Screen Calls it a Day", speedway365.com, 24 August 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2013
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