URT COBAIN, James Dean, Marc Bolan, Marilyn Monroe… the world has seen many superstars taken too soon and become iconic figures of popular culture. Speedway may be a long way from Hollywood and rock ’n’ roll but Danny Ayres has gained the same status on shale after taking his own life on February 1, 2020.
K OH DANNY JO Brave Jodie Pledge delivers a lasting legacy for a legend. By PHIL LANNING
much-loved rider. That continues with the latest ‘Danny’s Day’ meeting at Mildenhall this Sunday.
In a heartfelt interview, Jodie’s fresh out of Albert Square accent starts to break with emotion. She revealed: “Grief is a weird thing. I think for two years I’ve been living off pure adrenalin. I lost Danny and my feet haven’t really hit the floor.
That’s because he was an equally great entertainer in his own right. He wasn’t a legend of Tinseltown or Top of the Pops but always pure theatre wherever he twisted a throttle.
The loss of Danny was a tragedy that rocked the sport to its core. Just six weeks before the pandemic lockdown, the grief of losing one of the sport’s most popular figures touched almost every fan of every track.
But for Jodie Pledge, Danny’s partner of six years and mother to their young children Lilou and Anaiya, the heartbreaking events of that night on the first day of February naturally hit the hardest.
“From day one I had to organise his funeral. Obviously I had his dad, sister and auntie with me but I felt emotionally it was on my shoulders to get everything just right for him the way he would have wanted it.
“It was like a three-part funeral. I was so blown away by the outpouring of love from the sport.
“I then had the first Danny’s Day to organise, then Covid, it’s not felt like a real life to be honest.
“I always think I’m going to wake up and turn to Danny and say ‘oh my God babe I’ve just had the worst dream’.
“It still doesn’t feel real but slowly as I hit the two-year mark I thought actually this is my life now. I hit a real wobbly bit.
Yet extreme adversity has been the making of this woman. She has shown extraordinary strength to rebuild her life with a new business to support her and the children.
Now Jodie has spoken for the first time about her joy in keeping Danny’s name alive in the sport and delivering a legacy for such a
“Until then I’ve been so strong and made sure I had to do right by Danny. I was just trying to make it into a positive. I was half sweeping it under the carpet.
“I just remember early on that I spoke out a lot. I did interviews and even did telly on ITV News, they came to my house. I felt so strong and in my head I felt I was handling it well. I
was keeping my girls on track.
“But what I was actually doing was just keeping myself busy, I was blocking out the grief if you like. For me, my grief has only just come. I find it hard now to talk about him sometimes. I just don’t think I’ve dealt with it directly at all.”
The rollercoaster range of emotions for Jodie is quite intoxicating. The extreme pain of losing Danny in such awful circumstances yet the contrasting outpouring of affection and subsequent success in building a new life.
and lockdown.
“To be honest, I had to get out of the house we were living in and back to Newmarket where I have real good friends. When I finally moved I went ‘phew, I can relax now’.
“Obviously moving was important, the house we were in was where Danny took his own life.
“That was our home together, we had a lot of good memories there. But I just didn’t sleep.
“Every time I came into the house that was in front of me. Every time I woke up in the night to go to the bathroom, I thought of it. Every time there was a bang in the house, I was worried it was the girls.
“I didn’t realise how much it affected me until I got away. During lockdown I went down to Devon and I slept like a log. I was just in a caravan with the girls, you would think you wouldn’t be able to sleep.
Typical of Jodie, she is very open about the difficult backdrop it has been, adding: “I’ve been very positive. With the money raised for me in Danny’s memory, I’ve invested that into starting my business a year ago.
“I had to move home and then had to fight to get Lilou into a school that gave her the support she needed. When I look back I think ‘Jesus I’ve done a lot in two years’. I think this is just what my body and mind needed to do to get through everything
“But just after Christmas we went back into lockdown again and I went back to the house to sort it out. The whole week I was awake, and this was when I made the decision to move.
“Danny’s legacy with the money raised, still continues to support me and the girls.
“Danny always used to say to me ‘when I ride for Monster Joe (Parsons)’. He felt and knew he could go all the way. It was always ‘when’ with Danny, never ‘if’.
“He had such a belief that he would be a huge success and provide for me and the girls.
“He said when all this happens ‘I will buy you your own shop babe’. So when he died
6 speedway star June 18 2022
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