Up close and personal

STEPHEN Waller started covering speedway in 1995 and the following season began working for the Evening Star and EADT, covering all the Witches away fixtures, as well as the odd home meeting at Foxhall.

STEPHEN Waller started covering speedway in 1995 and the following season began working for the Evening Star and EADT, covering all the Witches away fixtures, as well as the odd home meeting at Foxhall.

For more than ten years he did this, getting close-up to the action, capturing the dramatic moments. Moments he now recounts in his new book, A Decade in Pictures.

Steve was lucky enough to have been involved during the 1998 season, when the club won an amazing treble and although there have been some difficult seasons since, there has also been some enjoyable years.

“Of all the tracks where I have worked few come close to photographing at a British GP in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff,” Steve said.

“I remember walking up towards the track from the pits the first time and feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I entered the arena.

“My biggest disappointments include seeing Chris Louis break down on the last bend when he had the Elite League Riders Championship in the bag at Bradford and seeing the club go out of the play-offs at Wolves in 2004, when the Witches came the closest of any away team, since the play-offs began, to progress through to the final, from a semi on an away track.”

And what is that favourite snap?

“My favourite picture has got to be Robert Miskowiak's somersault over the Oxford fence a couple of years ago, while my favourite rider of all time, for ability but also entertainment value, would have to be The Californian Cowboy, John Cook.”

And what about Steve's all-star Witches team: “My favourite all-star team would be: John Louis, Billy Sanders, John Cook, Dennis Sigalos, Tony Rickardsson, Tomasz Gollob & Chris Louis.