Mark Courtney

Quality 0.50 · 0 views · Updated 2 months ago

British motorcycle speedway rider

title: "Mark Courtney" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1961-births", "people-from-braintree,-essex", "living-people", "british-speedway-riders", "english-motorcycle-racers", "leicester-lions-riders", "middlesbrough-bears-riders", "belle-vue-aces-riders", "king's-lynn-stars-riders", "newcastle-diamonds-riders", "berwick-bandits-riders", "glasgow-tigers-riders", "rye-house-rockets-riders", "trelawny-tigers-riders", "20th-century-english-sportsmen"] description: "British motorcycle speedway rider" topic_path: "science/astronomy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Courtney" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British motorcycle speedway rider ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Speedway rider"]

Field	Value
name	Mark Courtney
nationality	British (English)
birth_date
birth_place	Braintree, Essex
years1	1978
career1	Furness Flyers
years2	1979–1981, 1986, 1993
career2	Middlesbrough Tigers/Bears
years3	1980–1983
career3	Leicester Lions
years4	1984, 1986
career4	Belle Vue Aces
years5	1985
career5	King's Lynn Stars
years6	1987
career6	Newcastle Diamonds
years7	1988–1990
career7	Berwick Bandits
years8	1991, 2000, 2001
career8	Glasgow Tigers
years9	1992, 2002, 2003
career9	Rye House Rockets
years10	2001
career10	Trelawny Tigers
indivyear1	1980
indivhonour1	British Junior Champion
indivyear2	1982
indivhonour2	European U-21 silver
teamyear1	1981
teamhonour1	National League Champion
teamyear2	1980
teamhonour2	National League Pairs Champion
teamyear3	1986
teamhonour3	Fours Championship winner
::

Biography

Courtney was born in Braintree, Essex in 1961 and moved with his family to Workington when he was twelve, and he began his speedway career with second-half races at Workington in 1977. He joined the Barrow team in the National League the following year, moving to Middlesbrough Tigers in 1979.

He won the British Junior Championship in 1980 and moved up to the British League on loan with the Leicester Lions the same year, splitting his time between the two leagues. Also in 1980, he won the National League Pairs, partnering Steve Wilcock for Middlesbrough, during the 1980 National League season.

In 1982, he moved to Leicester full-time after a 15,000 transfer, and in the same year finished as runner-up in the European Under-21 final, defeating Peter Ravn in a run-off for silver.

In 1983, he was the Lions' highest-average rider, and represented England four times. At the end of the 1983 season, Courtney requested a transfer and signed to ride for the Belle Vue Aces in 1984, and then King's Lynn Stars in 1985.

In 1986, he dropped back down to the National League with Middlesbrough, while also making fifteen appearances for Belle Vue. He helped the Middlesbrough win the Fours Championship during the 1986 National League season.

A successful three-year spell at Berwick between 1988 and 1990 was followed by seasons at Glasgow, Rye House and then Middlesbrough. He was sacked by Middlesbrough at the end of the 1993 season after an incident involving a fire extinguisher at a hotel in Swindon. This effectively triggered his retirement from the sport, Courtney later moving into the building trade.

After being arrested in May 1997, Courtney was sentenced to six years in prison in 1998 for his part in a plot to import cannabis with a street value of 500,000 into the UK.

After seven years away from racing, Courtney, released from prison on licence, returned in 2000 with Glasgow, moving on to Trelwany midway through 2001. He moved on to his final club, Rye House, in 2002, finally retiring at the end of the 2003 season, after which he became a mechanic, most notably for Chris Harris.

Family

Courtney's sons Scott Courtney and Jamie Courtney followed him into speedway, both of whom went on to manage speedway teams. Mark Courtney's brother Sean Courtney also rode from 1982 to 2000.

References

"ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022".
Jones, Alan (2010) ''Speedway in Leicester: The Lions Roar'', Automedia, p. 162
"[https://archive.today/20130505062703/http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Speedway-Lions-Fans-hoping-Jamie-Courtney-chip-old-block/story-12067227-detail/story.html Lions Fans hoping Jamie Courtney is a chip off the old block]", ''[[Leicester Mercury]]'', 31 March 2011, retrieved 2011-10-30
Oakes, Peter (1981) ''1981 Speedway Yearbook'', Studio Publications, {{ISBN. 0-86215-017-5, p. 243
"1980 season results".
(20 July 1980). "Tigers pairs champs". Sunday Sun (Newcastle).
Oakes, Peter (1982) ''1982 Speedway Yearbook'', Studio Publications, {{ISBN. 0-86215-072-8, p. 239
(19 July 1982). "Courtney second after run-off". Leicester Daily Mercury.
(11 August 1986). "Speedway". Cambridge Daily News.
Belcher, David (2001) "[http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/return-of-the-shale-slider-speedway-once-a-staple-of-tv-sports-shows-faded-into-oblivion-during-the-1980s-now-weekly-tv-coverage-has-given-the-sport-a-boost-and-former-british-junior-champion-and-ex-convict-mark-courtney-is-right-back-on-track-1.194689 Return of the Shale-slider]", ''[[Glasgow Herald]]'', 17 March 2001, retrieved 2011-10-30
"[https://web.archive.org/web/20120401044221/http://www.speedwayworld.tv/news/article/450/harris-hires-courtney Harris Hires Courtney]", speedwayworld.tv, 8 July 2011, retrieved 2011-10-30

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::