Isle of Wight speedway promoters Barry Bishop and Martin Widman have moved quickly to establish a completely new management set-up for the Wightlink Wizards as they prepare for their first season in the Southern Development League.
After sifting through and assessing the applicant’s submissions, the new Wizards Team Manager will be a joint position with Isle of Wight Clerk of the Course Kevin Shepherd and former England international Sid Sheldrick.
In addition to the joint team managers, the Wizards have added 3 new faces to their management team. Firstly, Peter Shepherd comes in as the Wizard’s Team Co-ordinator supported by Tim Lee with Tony Cook coming in as Technical Advisor.
Kev Shepherd said:
“When the position to become the team manager was made available it was too good an opportunity not to put myself forward as a candidate. To then receive a call from Barry to say that both promoters wanted me to manage the newly formed Wightlink Wizards and to work jointly with Sid Sheldrick, well how could I possibly decline the offer?
“With Sid’s on track and bike set-up knowledge, along with my previous team manager experience, it will form the ideal combination. The Wizards riders will be new to the shale and at times will need encouragement and reassurance that they are doing well and progressing, which is what this league is all about.
“I truly am looking forward to getting the season underway and seeing the team on track and would like to thank the promotion for having the confidence in me for the job.”
Barry Bishop added:
“Martin and I are very thankful to everyone who applied for the job. We were truly humbled with the number of applications and some difficult choices had to be made because every application had strengths that would have been valuable to the Wizards. However, with Kev and Sid, I truly believe that we have brilliant Team Managers who will be able to guide the Wizards as they make their development league debut this season.”
