William Lawson: 'I gate crashed the press and practice'

NEWS Friday 5th June 2020, 9:00am

by PR Team

  Edinburgh Monarchs

William Lawson completed the collection of 2020 What The Fork Monarchs to take part in the Sunday Lunch With... question and answer sessions as he joined John and Liam for an entertaining chat.

John and Liam started by asking William about how he got started in speedway. William said, "In 1997 and '98 there was grasstracking in Scotland and I was actually going to do that. I had a speedway bike but we used to ride it on the grass.

"Then in the summer of '98 Alan Robertson at Linlithgow had a training week. I was on his 125cc and by the Saturday I had blown up two of his engines and wrecked one bike. So he said I'd need to bring my own bike down! So I got on the 500cc and that was it.

"Grasstrack kind of folded up here so I was just riding speedway. I used to go to Linlithgow every Sunday and spend five hours riding round and round."

After a promising start to his career saw him go all the way to the World Under 21 final, William took the unexpected decision to retire in 2011.

After a few years completely away from the sport, William revealed how he started to get involved again, "I gate crashed the press and practice in 2015 and got the buzz back. But I was busy at work and had just started a family so I had a lot on at the time. That's why it took from 2015 to 2018 to get back into it.

"I missed all of it. Speedway has been such a big part of my life. Speaking to all of the riders, being involved in the pits. I used to love all the travelling and it took me to a lot of places. Just everything about it, I just love speedway.

"I go out in every race to win it, that's never changed. The desire is still there."

If you missed last weekend's Sunday Lunch, you can watch now over on EMTV.

Please accept apologies for the intermittent audio issues, the internet connection to Auchterarder was struggling at times.

John and Liam return for another live Sunday Lunch With... question and answer session this Sunday from midday. Their special guest will be a familiar face in Monarchs 100 spokesperson Scott Wilson.

Scott will reflect on the Monarchs 100 Auction which takes place this Saturday at 2pm when many fascinating items are set to go under the hammer. See the full list and find out how to get involved here:

Monarchs 100 Auction