A Gillman favourite out for the season - September 2013
September 23, 2013 by Gillman Media
As the Gillman promotion put together the Gillman team to meet the touring Boocock Young Lions team in December, one rider who will not be donning a Gillman breast-plate is Victorian rider Tyron Proctor.
Under normal circumstances Proctor would be one of the first riders selected, as he is highly respected by Gillman Speedway Manager David Parker and team manager Leigh Adams.
One of the reason they respect him so much is his dedication to supporting grass-roots level Speedway in Australia.
Proctor lives in Longwarry, in Victoria, which is 180km from his nearest track, at Broadford.
But Proctor not only rides regularly at Broadford, he also often makes the 1650km round trip to Gillman Speedway in Adelaide, and flies to Perth to ride at Pinjar Park.
The reason is simple. He wants to be a professional speedway rider and realises the role the Australian tracks have played in helping him achieve his goal of riding in Europe, and understands riders like himself have to support these tracks so they can provide the same opportunities to the next generation of racers.
Proctor had doubts whether he could make the grade in Europe but this season he was in career-best form riding for Wolverhampton, in the British Elite League, and Plymouth in the Premier league, until an injury ruled him out, not just for the rest of the British season, but most likely for all of the 2013-14 Australian season as well.
Proctor was averaging an impressive 8.76 for Wolverhampton in the top league (which still has him tenth in the Elite League averages, and the third highest Australian behind Grand Prix riders Chris Holder and Darcy Ward) when he travelled to Scotland with Premier League Plymouth for a match against Edinburgh on 17 May.
He jumped straight into the lead in his first heat against Edinburgh top gun Craig Cook, but surprisingly lost control going through turn three and was thrown awkwardly onto the track and hit by the following rider. He seemingly escaped injury as he was instantly up and stormed back to the pits, disgusted with himself for throwing a potential race win away, and carried on, taking a further four rides.
The following night he rode in the return match at Plymouth and scored eight points but didn’t feel very good.
A few nights later he was in action for Wolverhampton at Birmingham, and after intense physio on his neck in the days leading up to the meeting he felt good in his first few rides, and scored 6 points from his first four rides, but in his fourth ride he hit dirt some heavy dirt, reared alarmingly, and felt something collapse in his shoulder and was unable to continue.
His shoulder was heavily iced and he was quickly off to the doctor where the injury was diagnosed as a slipped disc, between the C5 and C6 vertebrae, which was pressing against the nerves.
He initially thought he would be back on the track after a six-week rest but when there was little sign of progress he went to see a neck and spine specialist who told him he’d need an operation to fuse the vertebrae, and within four days he was in hospital.
The dangerous operation went well but Proctor faces a long recovery period. The bones will take six months from the operation to fuse, and the best he can hope for is to get some practice in at the end of the Australian season before heading back to Britain in March.
We wish him well.
Top photo: Tyron Proctor on his way to winning the Jack young Cup at Gillman Speedway last November. Photo by JDMPhotos.
Bottom photo: The start of Tyron Proctor’s crash at Edinburgh on 17 May. Proctor loses control in front of Craig Cook. Photo courtesy of Mike Hunter (taken from the meeting video).