Name: Garry Stead

Nickname: Steady or Gazza

Born: 5^th  January, 1972   

Birth Place: Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, ENGLAND

Marital Status: Single

Children: 2 Sons Lewis & Jenson

Racing Motto’s: Ready Steady Go !  &  Steady As Ya Go !

 

British Speedway Clubs:  

Cradley Heath Heathens  1988

Stoke Potters 1989 -1992

Newcastle Diamonds 1993 -1994                                             

Bradford Dukes 1995                   

Sheffield Tigers 1996

Bradford Dukes 1997

Wolverhampton Wolves 1998

Hull Vikings 1999 -2005

Workington Comets  2006

Stoke Potters  2007

 

Club Honours:

1995 - Speedway Star KO Cup Winner with Bradford Dukes

1997 - Elite League Championship Winner with Bradford Dukes

2000 - Premier Trophy Winner with Hull Vikings

2001 -  KO Cup Winner with Hull Vikings

2002 - KO Cup Finalist with Hull Vikings

2003 - Speedway Star KO Cup Winner with Poole Pirates

2004 - "THE TREBLE": Premier League Championship, KO Cup & Young Shield Winner with Hull Vikings.

2006 Premier League Four Team Tournament Champions with the Workington Comets

 

 Individual Honours:

British Finalist -1995, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2006

Overseas Finalist -1995, 2002**

Wayne Carter Farewell - 2007 - 1st Place

 

Hailing from "The Last Of The Summer Wine Country" and whilst most people were enjoying the antics of Foggy, Compo, Clegg and Co, Garry decided to do something more exciting - he became a Schoolboy Grass Track rider, winning the British Championship in his category numerous times.

Garry’s Speedway career started at a Bradford Dukes training school in 1987, after meeting rides followed. 

Garry’s first club was Cradley Heath in 1988 where he was a junior before he moved to the Stoke Potters in 1989 and where he continued to ride in after the meeting races, he broke his elbow in this season.

At Stoke Garry had the opportunity to battle for a team place towards the end of 1990, he became a regular in 1991 and stayed there until 1992. 

Garry moved to Brough Park in 1993 to be part of the Newcastle Diamonds outfit, he had an up and down season scoring well but did not manage to get through the season unscathed as he ended up with a broken wrist and thumb, it was during his time at Newcastle that Bradford promoter Alan Ham became aware of Garry’s potential, he moved quickly to secure his services in the 1994 season and paid £15,000 for the privalege but loaned him back to Newcastle for the rest of the season.

In 1995 Garry became a fully fledged Bradford Dukes rider cementing his place in the main body of the team and picking up a winners medal for the KO Cup, he also had a good individual year which saw him qualify for his first British final and also progress from that round to the Overseas Final.

The season was not without it’s disasters however and Garry picked up another injury, this time being a broken ankle towards the end of the season.

The season that followed 1996 saw Garry again qualify for the British Final and also found him surplus to requirements as Bradford were due to have Australian Todd Wiltshire ride for them, a loan agreement was quickly arranged for Garry to join the Sheffield Tigers and that season saw Garry progress to heat leader status with Tigers hence the following year in 1997 as Alan & Bobby Ham strived to secure Bradford with a league winning team Garry returned to the Dukes.

1997 was a good year for Garry ending the season with an Elite League Championship winning team medal. Unfortunately 1997 also saw the end of Speedway at Odsal Stadium the home of the Bradford Dukes and in 1998 Garry joined Wolverhampton on loan from Bradford as the Ham brothers still held his contract.

Garry’s season did not work out too well with the Wolves and he never really got to grips with the track there although he did yet again qualify for his third appearance in the British Final.

In 1999 Garry got a move back up North with the Hull Vikings and there he stayed until 2005 when their season came to an abrupt ending with two months remaining due to the promotion having financial difficulties, Garry would see the remainder of this season out by relying on guest bookings.

It was during his time with the Vikings that Garry had most of his track success winning the Premier Trophy in 2000 and the KO Cup in 2001.

 **In 2002 Garry again qualified for the British Final and for only the second time in his racing career Garry progressed to the next stage being the Overseas Final only for him to give his place up and put his club first as there was a clash of fixtures.  

2003 saw Garry pick up some Elite League guest bookings and the most notable one being the Poole Pirates, Garry was part of their Speedway Star KO Cup winning squad, the meeting at Poole saw him team up with Tony Rickardsson for a 5-1 which is still talked about by Poole fans still today !

It was’nt until 2004 that Garry got the most team pleasure, as that year the Vikings did the treble winning the Premier League, KO Cup and the Youngs Sheild.

2005 also saw Garry sidelined for a month during June and July when in a racing accident he received an injury to his lower back with internal bruising, this was the first time he had been sidelined since the 2000 season when he broke his arm.

The 2006 season saw Garry again change clubs as Hull had gone financially and the Sheffield Tigers promotion quickly snapped up the Hull rider assets, Garry was told that he was not in Sheffield’s plans for that season and he could talk to other clubs.

Graham Drury put a deal together to take Garry up to Cumbria as a Workington Comet, Garry could not have been more suited with this move as Derwent Park was one of his favourite tracks reminding him in a way of the old Odsal track.

The 2006 season also saw Garry become Captain of the Comets, it was his season for the taking as it was probably the best prepared he had been for a long time (New bikes, Kevlars and Sponsors) and saw him reach the British Final at Belle Vue for only the fifth time in his career, the year started really well for him with his form dwindling mid season due to him becoming disillusioned with the Workington team management but this did not perturb Garry as he bounced back to finish off the year in fine form and led the Comets to the Premier League Fours Championship title and earned himself another medal.

Towards the end of 2006 the Comets told Garry that he would not feature in their team plans in 2007 as they would be putting a team together from their own rider assets, Sheffield could not fit him in either and at one point it looked like Garry would miss the start of the 2007 season until Promoter Dave Tattum came in to take Garry on loan to the Stoke Potters for the second time in his career.

Garry started the season off really well top scoring in most of the early meetings, including winning the Wayne Carter Farewell at Scunthorpe, Garry was getting better and better until  he came off at Workington in a Premier Trophy meeting,his previous years club and damaged his ribs only for this to give him problems in the following weeks, Garry was now Captain of the Potters as team changes had been made due to the Potters poor start to the season.

On Friday 19^th May 2007 Garry’s racing career came to an abrupt end, sending shock waves through the World of Speedway, in a freak racing accident that would leave him paralysed from the waist down and in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Garry today is still very proud of the fact that he never missed a season since his Speedway Career started way back in 1987 as a raw Speedway recruit.

Garry did hope that he would return to ride for the Hull Vikings before his racing career ended but that was not to be.

One of Garry’s favourite moments from his career was when he guested for Poole Pirates in the 2003 Speedway Star KO Cup final and he combined with Tony Rickardsson for a 5-1. Poole went on to win with Garry being part of both meetings and receiving a winners medal.