Armadale Devils: Tom Woolley signing confirmed, but he sets his sights on Championship action

Tom Woolley is pleased to have joined the Armadale Devils, but hopes to ride for the Monarchs

The Englishman will return to the Armadale Devils for a second consecutive season and joins Danny Phillips of the riders to be announced so far.

Woolley guested for the Edinburgh Monarchs at reserve – in British speedway's second tier – a couple of times in 2021 and he's hungry for more racing at that level when the competitive action gets underway in April.

"I'd like to aim for Championship racing – Edinburgh gave me opportunities last year," Woolley said. "I just need to start the season well and hope that someone might give me a chance.

"I really enjoyed being with the Devils last year, everybody around the place is so welcoming. It's such a friendly atmosphere from management to fans, so I was keen to stay this year."

Woolley is adamant more time on the bike is key to finding consistency on the shale.

"I started last year off quite well, then I went through a bit of a lull for a few meetings which hindered things," he explained. "But it started to come back towards the end of the season. So I need to find a bit more consistency and have a solid year all the way through and not just the start and end.

"We ran a number of meetings early on behind closed doors, and the more meetings I had the better I felt on the bike. More confident. Then midway through the season when we had only a couple of meetings in a month or two months, it was like starting the season all over again. That's out of everybody's control, especially with Covid, and let's hope that this year things are clearer and easier to plan.

"Although we finished fifth last year, if we had won that last away match against Kent, which we were quite confident we could do, that would have meant we would have finished third. I think that's quite respectable when people were writing us off at the start of the season."