A FORMER speedway rider has died suddenly in his sleep at his mother’s house.

Philip Ambrose, a former pupil at Swadelands School at Lenham, near Maidstone, was only 25.

Mr Ambrose divided his time between his father Brian, from Platts Heath, near Lenham, and his mother Shirley, from Ashford.

Mrs Ambrose said: “Phil was a fantastic grasstrack and speedway rider. He was very popular and the family have received so many tributes.”

Mr Ambrose helped the Edinburgh Monarchs to victory in the KO Cup Final in Essex, in 1999, before an accident resulting in a broken leg that took more than two years to mend took him out of racing.

He worked in his father’s roof tiling business. He leaves two-year-old daughter Honey.

The funeral service will be held at Charing Crematorium, on Tuesday, November 13, at 2pm.

An inquest has been opened and adjourned by Ashford coroners, but the cause of death has not yet been established.