Ben's first bike was presented to him on his 6th birthday and it was with this bike that he joined the Cornwall solo grass track club, and competed in his first official grass track event. He actually finished last but the desire to race had been ignited.

The following spring Ben started racing in structured organised events, not surprisingly he wanted a bigger and faster bike. With the new more powerful bike and Ben’s ambition and drive to be the best, he won many races and events, progressed through the classes and became club champion. Ben’s rise through the ranks continued unabated, culminating at only 14 years of age in him winning the British championship and the FIM Gold Cup in Wertle in Germany. At this stage of his development Ben looked destined for a successful grass track career and this was really Ben’s only aspiration.

Ben was persuaded to step up and take on the challenge of riding a 350cc speedway bike, shortly after his fantastic achievements on the grass track circuit. However Ben did not initially take to or enjoy the sport of speedway. An initial tendency to flip the bike over on the start line in the fashion of a backward somersault left Ben with both a bruised anatomy and pride.

When almost about to give the sport up forever, Ben was persuaded to give speedway one last try by his parents. They say perseverance and practice pays off, and this proved to be the case for Ben with the penny suddenly dropping resulting in the establishment of a potential new speedway star.

At 15 years of age Ben was riding with the academy teams at both Trelawny Pitbulls and Oxford. Ben formally signed for Oxford when he was just 16 years old. Ben continued his development and gained valuable experience riding in the second and third tiers of the British speedway leagues. During this time Ben featured for Oxford, Exeter Falcons, Somerset and Stoke Spitfires. At this stage Ben was acknowledged by many good judges as potentially one of the best homegrown British prospects.

However speedway is acknowledged as a very dangerous sport and whilst riding for Oxford at Stoke in 2005 Ben was involved in a very serious accident resulting in a shattered left leg. It was anticipated that Ben would be out of the sport for months if not years. However Bens fighting spirit was evident to all, and he amazed medical and other experts by both his rate of physical recovery and the speed at which he was once again sitting on a speedway bike. Ben sports the scars and numerous pins and plates to this day.

Despite his serious injury setback, many spotted Ben’s talent and Ben became an asset of the Reading club in 2007. He was loaned to the Stoke Potters team to gain further experience in the Premier League of British speedway. Ben had a really successful 2007 and was fast becoming hot property.

2008 was a real breakthrough year for Ben for many reasons. He became an official squad member of the Coventry Bees team riding in the highest level of the sport, the Sky Sports Elite league. It was not envisaged at the start of the season that he would feature many times for Coventry. Never the less this was a major break through.

Ben remained on loan at Stoke in the Premier League and doubled up when requested for Coventry. He made the international transition during 2008 and featured for his country at both under 21 under 23 level, culminating in a test match series against Australia at under 23 level.

Ben became the star performer for Stoke whilst making rapid progress in the Coventry ranks. Coventry was so impressed that in July 2008 they bought Ben from Reading and he became an asset of the Coventry club. His loan at Stoke continued
until the end of the season. Additionally his performances were becoming acknowledged on other shores and Ben was offered a contract and signed for the leading Polish club Wroclaw.

He represented Stoke in the Premier League rider’s championship at Sheffield and gave a fantastic account of himself, only just missing out on a final place.
Ben also performed superbly to reach the latter stages of the world under 21 championships.

In the latter stages of the season things just got better and better. Off the track Ben was nominated for BBC South West sports personality of the year and BBC Midlands breakthrough sports personality of the year. From an on track perspective Ben swept the board at the Stoke end of season awards presentation and starred for Coventry in the final of the prestigious Craven Shield. The highlight of the Craven Shield being an impressive 14-point haul in the away leg, and undefeated maximum points yield in the home leg.

2009 holds many challenges and opportunities for Ben. He has formally signed to ride exclusively for Coventry in the Sky Sports Elite league. Indeed the year has started in fantastic fashion with him winning the prestigious individual New Year Classic meeting, held at Poole on the 4th January.

The remainder of the year looks really exciting. In addition to riding for Coventry in England, Ben will ride every Sunday in Poland for his Polish club Wroclaw. There will be many more international appearances and given that Ben is still only 20 years of age, one last crack at the world under 21 championship awaits.

Bens long term aspirations and ambitions are to be successful after making the transition to the higher echelon of the Elite League, become a renowned Grand Prix star and ultimately to be speedway world champion. Many have this aspiration, however Ben is one of the few that have the drive, determination, desire, competency and realistic chance of achieving this ambition.