Halswell Speedway rider Andrew Aldridge will embark shortly for England again as he has signed with Poole for the Bournemouth Buccaneers team.

Aldridge will form part of the Buccaneers eight man National League Squad. Andy rode for the Rye House Cobras in his debut year last season and averaged 6.7 points for the team. He needs a 7 point average to have a chance of finding a permanent position in a professional league team.

Ian Graham has worked feverishly with the family on Aldridge’s behalf to help him secure a place for this season. The three times under 21 NZ champion started his racing under the two times World Individual Speedway Champion Ronnie Moore at Moore Park in Christchurch at the age of 13. 2003, 2006 and 2007 saw him take out the under 21 titles while he became the NZ Short track Champion in 2005 and 2006. He also has added a Burt Munro Speedway Title to his list of achievements and was a runner up in the Australian Ivan Mauger Golden Helmet series in 2006. Bournemouth manager Garry May believes Aldridge will be a great asset to the club and reckons he could be a great find after another season around the National league tracks. Aldridge knows he must make this season count if he wishes to reach his goal of becoming a professional rider.

Back home Aldridge has been committed to riding as much as possible from one end of NZ to the other. He is trying to improve his gating and aggression in the first turn. Work is required on fighting back if caught behind, a feature Aldridge had as a junior rider. Having realised that these problems need attention, Aldridge has had a boost to his confidence by winning both the NZ Speedway Solo long track class and GP recently. He broke his long track record at Ascot Park, Invercargill. He went down with these three goals and was pleased to achieve them all.

Aldridge has always had great support from John Tuffley who won the NZ Long Track title at Ascot. Former international rider Larry Ross is another one of many who has been assisting. John Ross, Larry’s son in only his second season of racing won the Long Track GP title to the delight of the Canterbury motorcycle Speedway Club..  

Aldridge last meetings will be in CHCH at his home tracks of Moore Park and Ruapuna over the 27th and 28th of February. He teams up with Larry, John and young Corey Lang as part of the Canterbury provincial team challenge against Southland, Manawatu and Auckland. This team event runs in conjunction with the NZ Short Track Sidecar Title and the Sidecar masters event.  He departs for England to join the Buccaneers on the 5th March.