ASHLEY Morris’ loyalty to Birmingham Brummies has been rewarded with bosses naming him the new club captain.
The Wolverhampton born racer has been appointed skipper of the Curtis Sport Brummies following the departure of Chris Harris over the winter.
Despite an anxious wait during the close-season whilst a takeover was completed, Morris turned down offers from other Championship clubs – as did James Shanes who has again been named vice-captain.
And while Morris admits it’s a personal boost ahead of the new campaign, he insists he will still operate in the same manner on racenights.
Morris said: “Of course it was nice to be asked and I accepted straight away.
“At the end of the day though, it doesn’t matter whether I’m captain or not because I’m always wanting to make sure the rest of the lads in the team are feeling good, checking that they’re okay with set-ups, that we’re all on the same wavelength and things like that.
“It doesn’t change anything too much for me with the way I am around the pits anyway, it just means I need to get a few coin tosses right before each meeting!
“But no, to be asked to do the role officially feels good and I’m just looking forward to getting going, working with the lads and spending another season with Birmingham.
“I had a few offers from other clubs but deep down I knew I wanted to be back at Birmingham if they were running.
“I didn’t even really think about those other offers at the time because Birmingham have been good to me over the years and it’s a place I really enjoy coming to every week.
“I know they were uncertain times and they were challenging for everyone involved.
“I know it was risky on my own behalf but Laurence [Rogers – team manager] kept telling me things were in the pipeline and that it was all looking good to go, so I decided to take his word and luckily it all paid off and we’re here today.”
Birmingham head to Leicester for the first leg of their Knockout Cup clash today (Saturday, March 26, 7pm) before a side featuring five of their current team members head to Wolverhampton on Monday (March 28, 7.30pm).
The new season at Perry Barr gets underway on Wednesday (March 30, 7.30pm) as the new-look Curtis Sport Brummies host a Coventry Select Side with advanced tickets available now via birmingham-speedway.com
