TOM Paarup Madsen initially rode as a junior on an 80cc machine at Holsted in 1989.
Madsen first appeared for a British club ten years later in 1999, when he joined Berwick after being highly recommended to the Borders outfit. He was to appear in twenty-three league matches for the Bandits, from which he scored 143 points for a 6.58 average. The high spot of his debut season on these shores occurred on 3 May, when he romped to 15+2 points as Berwick shaded a 48-45 victory in a league encounter at Workington.
A move into the Elite League with King's Lynn followed for the Dane in 2000, when he consolidated himself as a solid reserve. The year saw the Norfolk side, then known as the Knights, finish as runners-up to Eastbourne in the Elite League standings, but they went one better in the Knock-Out Cup, beating Coventry by 100 points to 80 on aggregate in the final. Madsen played his part in the success, particularly in the home leg of the final on 25 October, when he netted 6+1 points.
Tom remained ever-present over the course of the 32-match league programme, scoring 95 points for a highly satisfactory 4.07 average in the highest echelon of British racing.
Madsen was to be identified with King's Lynn for another two seasons and he upped his league average to 5.35 in 2001, having accrued 136 points from thirty appearances. The side became known as the Silver Machine Knights in 2002 and in a disappointing season for the club, they finished stone last in the league standings. Despite this, Tom slightly improved his average to 5.48, having attained 158 points from a full quota of thirty-two meetings.
A switch of tracks in 2003 saw the Esbjerg-born racer line-up for Ipswich, however, a drop in form saw him make only fifteen league appearances for 46 points and a 4.15 average, before he was replaced in the team by Freddie Eriksson.
However, the rules in operation at the time permitted Madsen to also ride for King's Lynn, who had joined the Premier League under a new promotion and also reverted back to their traditional Stars nickname. The number of meetings he could ride in was restricted, though, since he only came into the side as cover for Shane Parker. Described as ‘Mr. Dependable' by then co-promoter Laurence Rogers, Tom posted a whopping 9.68 figure, having scored 73 points in only seven matches.
An unsavoury incident prior to the 2004 season saw him lose £9,500 worth of equipment from his van after thieves broke into the vehicle, which was parked outside his home at Tilney St Lawrence in Norfolk.
Tom again represented King's Lynn that year and was also named by Elite League Oxford as their No. 9 rider. Unluckily, he was to suffer a couple of early season knocks, dislocating a shoulder in a Premier Trophy match at Exeter on 12 April and receiving a chip to an ankle bone in a Knock-Out Cup tie at home to the Isle of Wight on 12 May. This clearly affected his form for the Stars and, despite battling on to record 96 points and a 6.62 average from fifteen league matches, he eventually lost his team spot to James Brundle in an August re-shuffle of the side.
Madsen subsequently went back to his parent club, Berwick, for a late-season stint as a replacement for axed club skipper Claus Kristensen. He did very well too, gleaning 41 points from five matches for an 8.36 average.
Meanwhile, in the Elite League, he appeared in seven league matches for Oxford, as and when needed, netting 22 points for a 4.91 average.
Tom remained with Oxford at the start of 2005, but a team change on 16 May saw him replaced by Tomasz Bajerski. He had ridden in eleven league matches for the Oxford Silver Machine, as they were known, scoring 46 points to achieve a 4.15 average.
Madsen again re-located back to Berwick, taking the place of Piotr Dym, who had been dropped. He went on to post a 7.39 average for the Bandits after representing the side in twenty-four league matches, which yielded 147 points.
The Danish racer made a return to the Elite League with Belle Vue in 2006 and he was an ever-present throughout the 40-match programme. For these, he garnered 121 points and a 3.68 average, the highlight being a tally of 8+3 at Arena-Essex on 25 August.
In 2007, Tom returned to the Premier League with Mildenhall, for whom he registered 119 points from twenty-one league matches for a 6.46 average. Unluckily, his season was cut short by a hip injury, suffered in a frightening spill at Birmingham on 29 August, when, in heat five, team-mate Shaun Tacey shed a chain, sending him inadvertently clattering into the Dane.
Although he missed the remainder of the season, Madsen's recuperation has gone well and, with the exclusion of bonus points, he will begin the 2008 campaign with Reading on a green sheet average of 6.17.
Born: 24th November, 1977, Esberg, Denmark
