Richard David Ashworth (born 17 August 1982 in Salford, England) is a former professional motorcycle speedway rider who has represented Great Britain. Biography Son of David Ashworth and Mandy Winnard, Ricky was raised in Salford (originally from Irlam) and went to Summerville County primary school and then on to Hope High School. He started his racing career on a Yamaha PW 50cc and Kawasaki K100 as a motocross rider up to the age of 10, changing his bike career to grass track racing after experiencing financial difficulties due to the spiralling cost of privately owning and maintaining motocross bikes. While gaining a high reputation for himself during his grass track days, Ricky was introduced to speedway. After a couple of practice sessions on a speedway bike he was talent-spotted by Belle Vue Colts. He quickly signed for Premier League side Sheffield Tigers after just 12 months in the sport. He has since gone on to establish himself as a heat leader at the Owlerton club and has also experienced Elite League racing while doubling up with Peterborough Panthers in 2004 and Poole Pirates in 2005. In 2006, Ashworth was given the number 1 jacket following the retirement of Sean Wilson and some of his best meetings came when he took on the captaincy following Andre Compton's absence. He retained the number 1 slot for the 2007 season. He took part in the Premier League Fours event in Peterborough, but fell on his first race while attempting to overtake. On 27 November 2008, it was announced that Ricky would once again ride for the Sheffield Tigers and also take over from Andre Compton as the Tigers Captain. On 27 September 2009, on his home track, Ricky rode brilliantly to win the PL Riders Championship. He had top scored during the heats to gain automatic qualification to the Grand Final Heat where he was up against the riders Ty Proctor, Darcy Ward and David Howe. With an awesome start from inside gate-1 he rode from the front to win his first honours in this event at the first time of trying. In 2010, Ricky doubled-up for Belle Vue Aces, along with retaining the captaincy for Sheffield Tigers. On 14 October 2010, Ricky broke his existing Sheffield track record of 59.2 secs (54.56 mph) set on 21 May 2009 with a new time of 59.1 secs at a speed of 54.65 mph). This