Hitmen Shock as Greenwood stands down

 

Following a string of injuries culminating in the retirement of Skipper Jade Mudgway last week, National League side, Buxton Hitmen, have been further rocked by the news that inspirational number 1 and former British Under 19 Champion, Oliver Greenwood, has decided to take a complete break from speedway. He suffered yet more equipment damage during Monday’s fixture at Kent.

Speaking from his West Midlands base, Greenwood explained; “I’ve decided to take a break from the sport for combination of reasons, throughout the season I haven’t felt the way I used to on the bike. Possibly due to previous injuries and after banging my head at Buxton (which resulted in a mandatory 9-day break) I didn’t feel the same on the bike and it’s taken the fun out of what I used to love doing – riding my bike. On Monday at Kent I ended up with another bent bike which the front end is probably written off and this is the second time so far this year I’ve had this and both times it’s been no through fault of my own, but due to racing incidents and other riders. That’s just part of the sport I guess but when I question myself about how much time, money and effort I’m putting into racing in addition to working full time and riding in two leagues I came up blank. On Monday at Kent even when I was winning races I wasn’t enjoying it and it’s something that’s been slowly building up this season due to a combination of reasons which I’ve explained above. I’m going to take some time out and time off the bike and see how I feel and what I want to do. I’d like to thank everyone at Buxton and fans and riders they’ve been great and I’ll still be out and about at meetings to help out where I can.”

The decision has come as a bitter blow to the league’s basement club and has left team boss Jason Pipe scratching his head.

“I can’t believe this is happening! Seriously, just how many black cats have I ran over this year?! After all our bad luck this season, I thought it would change soon, especially as we’d brought in a new rider for Jade Mudgway from our next meeting on July 17th, when we were to finally have that missing heat leader in place, to allow us to ditch the dreaded Rider Replacement facility. Unfortunately, now we are still saddled with that at this moment in time, because our new rider will come in at number 1 and we will only get to use the r/r facility for Ollie. I’m now going to have to get on the phone and search around for another rider or riders. There are one of two riders out there, but they must be realistic with what they ask for and what Buxton as a small club can afford. Coming so soon after the Jade Mudgway news, this has hit us like a bombshell. I’ll remain positive and hope that I can sort something out over the next few days. The good thing is, is that we don’t have another meeting now until Sunday 17th July at home to Belle Vue.”

But Pipe did have some words of consolation for Greenwood; “I’ve got to say I do understand where Ollie is coming from after seeing most of his crashes and seeing the damage that has been caused by the other riders, with him being the innocent party each time. I’d like to think this is not the last speedway has seen of Ollie Greenwood and I wish him well for whatever he decides to do in the future and I must say a huge thank you for him coming in to the Buxton team this season and getting the scores he has for us. He is going to be a big big loss to this team and I just hope it doesn’t affect the other rides too much because he had a good close working relationship with them. I hope it doesn’t, but this decision and I don’t blame him for making it, may possibly have finished our season off I just don’t know what’s going to happen at this moment in time.”