Leigh Adams - The Greatest Never to Win?
By Tracy Holmes

Leigh Adams by Martin Mewies

It was another Facebook comment that I, as you do, commented on. The photo of Leigh Adams was accompanied with, "The greatest rider never to become World Champion."

Well, my reply was as usual, "Yes, he joins Vic Huxley, Jack Parker, Vic Duggan, Igor Plechanov, Bengt Jansson and Malcolm Simmons for sure."

The response, "Certainly of the GP era."

Now that got me thinking. Was this correct? Had to do some serious digging on this 'digger.'

I have an article/interview with Leigh from his retirement year, 2010. "I always wanted to be the best, wanted to be World Champion."

Why wasn't he? "I think maybe just my personality. I can ride at a very high level all the time but, maybe, I couldn't lift myself that extra ten percent." And there you have it.

Hans Nielsen, Billy Hamill, Greg Hancock, Tony Rickardsson, Mark Loram, Nicki Pedersen, Jason Crump and Tomasz Gollob were all as busy as Leigh, but they all had what he lacked, the 'X-factor' that extra ten percent, that was required to claim the greatest prize of all. Gollob took forever but he finally made it.

I also recalled another article about Leigh, where he modelled himself on his boyhood hero, Phil Crump. Nothing wrong with that, unless you wanted to be World Champion. Crumpy was a global superstar and he could match the World Final winners of his era 'no sweat.' He consistently beat Ivan Mauger, Ole Olsen, Anders Michanek, Peter Collins and later, Mike Lee and Bruce Penhall. But they could all do what he never could, win the World Final.

Phil said that while he could match them race for race in league matches and anywhere else, he did not have the X-factor they all possessed that carried them to highest of Speedway's heights. His Bronze Medal at the 1976 World Final in Chorzow, as close as he ever got.

Now Leigh must have known that. Crumpy must have told him. So why did Leigh model himself on the guy who was a 'household name' in the Speedway World but could never be Champion of the World? Be like an architect wanting to build the world's tallest sky-scraper but choosing foundations that could never see it done. Experts would have said, "you'll get close but never close enough." And Leigh's comments about not being able to produce that extra ten percent, mirror Crump's assessment of himself. Fascinating.

When it comes to Speedway's World Stage, Leigh's own star shone just as bright as the best of the rest.

Three World Team Cup Gold Medals. Four times winner of the CZ Golden Helmet. Elite League Riders Champion. World Pairs Final Silver Medal with Todd Wiltshire. World Under 21 Champion plus ten times Australian Champion.

And on THE most grand stage of all;

1993 World Final. 4 points, 15th behind Tony Rickardsson also with 4 points. Last with 2 points, Greg Hancock.

1994 World Final. Did not qualify. Winner, Tony Rickardsson.

The World Final is then replaced by the Speedway Grand Prix.

1995. Did not qualify. Hans Nielsen 103. Tony Rickardsson 88. Sam Ermolenko 83.

1996. 15th 28 points. Billy Hamill 113. Hans Nielsen 111. Greg Hancock 88.

1997. 10th 42 points. Greg Hancock 118. Billy Hamill 101. Tomasz Gollob 92.

1998. 10th 51 points. Tony Rickardsson 111. Jimmy Nilsen 99. Tomasz Gollob 97.

1999. 7th 67 points. Tony Rickardsson 111. Tomasz Gollob 98. Hans Nielsen 76.

2K. 6th 65 points. Mark Loram 102. Billy Hamill 95. Tony Rickardsson 94. Jason Crump 88. Greg Hancock 76.

2001. 5th 69 points. Tony Rickardsson 121. Jason Crump 113. Tomasz Gollob 89. Ryan Sullivan 80.

2002. 4th 127 points. Tony Rickardsson 181. Jason Crump 162. Ryan Sullivan 158. [ Leigh wins round 7 ]

2003. 4th 126 points. Nicki Pedersen 152. Jason Crump 144. Tony Rickardsson 127. [ Leigh wins round 5 ]

2004. 4th 131 points. Jason Crump 158. Tony Rickardsson 155. Greg Hancock 137. [ Leigh wins round 1 ]

2005. 3rd 107 points. Tony Rickardsson 196. Jason Crump 154.

2006. 5th 106 points. Jason Crump 188. Greg Hancock 144. Nicki Pedersen 134. Andreas Jonsson 119.

2007. 2nd 153 points. Nicki Pedersen 196. Third is Jason Crump 124. [ Leigh wins round 3, 7 & 8 ]

2008. 6th 125 points. Nicki Pedersen 174. Jason Crump 152. Tomasz Gollob 148. Greg Hancock 144. Hans Andersen 140. [ Leigh wins round 2 & 7 ]

2009. 11th 81 points. Jason Crump 159. Tomasz Gollob 144. Emil Sayfutdinov 139.

Leigh retires from the competition. He'd made 28 Finals, winning 8.

2010. Tomasz Gollob 166. Jaroslaw Hampel 137. Jason Crump 135.

To emphasize Leigh's comment about that missing extra ten percent, the above and following stats prove it. The World Champions from Leigh's era and Final wins tally from their SGP years; Jason Crump 23. Tomasz Gollob 22. Greg Hancock 21, winning one meeting that was rained out. Tony Rickardsson 20. Nicki Pedersen 17. [ Leigh Adams 8 ] Hans Nielsen 6. Billy Hamill 6. Mark Loram 2.

Nielsen retired at the end of 1999. Hamill's last SGP involvement was I believe 2002. Loram, 2004. And even though he only ever won two Finals, Mark Loram was so consistent at getting there or there about, he actually won the 2K competition without winning a main Final once! Not that he didn't try, it was the very nature of the competition that Ole Olsen had dreamed of. He possessed the 'ten percent' that for Leigh proved so illusive.

I can see how my Facebook friend arrives at his comment. Does anyone else get close? For sure. Jaroslaw Hampel, two Silver Medals and a Bronze. Leon Madsen, two Silver Medals and back in the series next year, going strong. Emil Sayfutdinov, three Bronze Medals. And Freddie Lindgren. Three Bronze Medals and one Silver. And he's not finished yet. BUT, we are looking at a riders overall career, not just the SGP.

If I find that Facebook page again, I may mention this and see what others have to say. Sure did enjoy trawling through all the SGP years and looking closely at Adams awesome achievements. Amazing what enforced retirement can do. Hope you had fun with this too. Terra for a bit.

This article was first published on 13th September 2025