At the first meeting of 2017, on Saturday 14th January, the ACU Track Racing Committee Chairman Dickie Staff welcomed two new members to his team. Tony Steele and Shaun Harvey will both join the existing Committee for an initial term of three years each.
The new members bring a vast amount of experience and knowledge to the Committee as Competitors, Event Organisers and Officials.
Although coming from a background in Speedway racing, Tony Steele offers the Track Racing Committee (TRC) a wide range of experience across all forms of Track Racing covering local grass roots events to Long Track, Flat Track, Sidecar and Ice Racing.
Tony’s love affair with Track Racing started back in 1968 when Speedway returned to Leicester and he joined the Track Staff soon after in 1969. Over the years Tony has become a Speedway Referee and Steward at various different levels, including at World level and covering events in New Zealand and Australia.
After retiring from the FIM Referee’s panel at the age of 55, Tony was elected to join the CCP Bureau (the FIM’s Track Racing Commission) and has represented the ACU since then. Even after traveling the world as a Referee, Tony enjoys visiting remote circuits at grass roots level and understands that without the Youth Grass Track riders progressing ‘through the ranks’, there would be no future World Championship stars in Track Racing and Speedway.
As part of his new role on the ACU’s Track Racing Committee, Tony will be one of two members representing the ACU on the Speedway Control Bureau
Joining Tony Steele on the TRC is current 500cc Sidecar driver and organiser of the 500cc Sidecar Super Series – Shaun Harvey. Shaun has been an observer at Track Racing Committee meetings for the past two years and when the opportunity arose to join the TRC as full member, Shaun was keen to take more of an active role in helping guide the sport towards a bright future.
Harvey has been involved in Track Racing from a very young age first competing when he was 15 years old, claiming his first British title in 1986 as a passenger, before taking over the controls as a Sidecar driver in 1987.
As a competitor, Shaun has competed at all levels of the sport in 500cc Sidecar’s and has claimed numerous titles over the years. In recent years Shaun has turned his hand to the 1000cc Sidecar Speedway as a competitor as well as assisting with the promotion.
Away from the racing action, Shaun is Chairman of the 500cc Sidecar Association and organiser of the 500cc Sidecar Super Series, using his experiences of competing on the European circuits to raise the profile of the events that he and his club organise.
TRC Chairman Dickie Staff commented, ‘I would like to offer my congratulations to both Tony and Shaun for their recent election onto the TRC. Although they both have very different backgrounds as a result of their involvement in Track Racing, they are both extremely experienced and will bring a wealth of knowledge to the rest of the team. I’m really looking forward to working with them, and I’m sure they will be a great asset to both British and International Track Racing’