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1952 Speedway National League Division Two
The 1952 National League Division Two was the seventh post-war season of the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. Summary The post-war boom was now fading and the League was shortened to 12 teams with Division Three now defunct and continued only on a regional basis. Previous champions Norwich Stars had been promoted to Division One. Newcastle, Walthamstow and Halifax had closed whilst Fleetwood Flyers changed to Fleetwood Knights and ran only open meetings. Poole Pirates were the only new entrant, promoted from the former lower tier. Poole Pirates won the title, having won Division Three in the previous season. Final table Top Five Riders (League only) National Trophy Stage Two * For Stage One - see Stage One * For Stage Three - see Stage Three The 1952 National Trophy was the 15th edition of the Knockout Cup. The Trophy consisted of three stages; stage one was for the third tier clubs, stage two was for the second tier clubs and stage three was for the ...
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Poole Pirates
Poole Pirates (also known as Poole Speedway) are a motorcycle speedway team based in Poole, England, competing in the SGB Championship. The club have been the champions of the United Kingdom on ten occasions. Poole Speedway is promoted by local businessman Matt Ford and son Danny Ford, who took over promoting rights of the club in 1998. The team is managed by past rider and former Great Britain team manager Neil Middleditch. Wimborne Road Stadium has been home to the club since it was founded in 1948. In August 2004, Poole hosted the Speedway World Cup final, which was won by Sweden. Stadium Poole Stadium (also known as Wimborne Road Stadium), has been the Pirates' home track since the club was created in 1948. It is situated near to the town centre and is owned by Poole Borough Council. The stadium's capacity was limited to 5,500 people in 2008 for safety reasons. Prior to 1948, the stadium had been used as a cycle track and had been home to Poole Town Football Club sinc ...
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Edinburgh Monarchs
The Edinburgh Monarchs are a Scottish Speedway team, currently based in Armadale. They compete in the SGB Championship, racing on Friday nights during the Speedway season. The club is run by a board of directors, chaired by Alex Harkess. The club also runs a National Development League team called the Armadale Devils. History The club was founded in 1928 and operated at Marine Gardens, Portobello in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1938 and 1939. A few team matches were staged in 1929 and an Edinburgh team competed in the Northern League in 1930. The Edinburgh team of 1938 and 1939 was known as The Thistles and they staged a number of challenge matches. 1948 to 1969: Meadowbank and Coatbridge After the Second World War, Marine Gardens was not available and the potential of Old Meadowbank, then the home of Leith Athletic F.C., was said to have been spotted by Ian Hoskins. The Monarchs (Meadowbank Monarchs) were re-established in 1948 by a consortium including Frank Varey, ex-rider and Sheffi ...
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Poole Stadium
Poole Stadium is a speedway and former greyhound racing venue located in the town centre of Poole, Dorset in England. The stadium is owned by the Borough of Poole. It was built in the early 1930s in an attempt to provide a source of entertainment to the residents of Poole during the Great Depression. It is also often referred to as Wimborne Road, which is a road that runs adjacent to the stadium. During weekdays, the stadium's large car park is used to provide parking for Poole Hospital's park and ride scheme. On 22 September 2020 the permanent closure of greyhound racing at the site was announced. Football In 1933 local semi-professional football team Poole Town F.C. moved to Poole Stadium where they began to play their home games in the Western Football League. In the 1946/47 season they had a run in the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup which took them through to a first round match against Queens Park Rangers. Poole Town drew 2–2 at Loftus Road, but lost 6–0 in the replay i ...
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British Newspaper Archive
The British Newspaper Archive web site provides access to searchable digitized archives of British and Irish newspapers. It was launched in November 2011. History The British Library Newspapers section was based in Colindale in north London, until 2013, and is now divided between the St Pancras and Boston Spa sites. The library has an almost complete collection of British and Irish newspapers since 1840. This is partly because of the legal deposit legislation of 1869, which required newspapers to supply a copy of each edition of a newspaper to the library. London editions of national daily and Sunday newspapers are complete back to 1801. In total, the collection consists of 660,000 bound volumes and 370,000 reels of microfilm containing tens of millions of newspapers with 52,000 titles on 45 km of shelves. After the closure of Colindale in November 2013, access to the 750 million original printed pages was maintained via an automated and climate-controlled storage facilit ...
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Knockout Cup (speedway)
Knockout Cup (sometimes referred to as the KO Cup) is a type of British motorcycle speedway competition, examples of which have run annually since 1929. Each tier of British Speedway has its own respective Knockout Cup. The current Knockout Cup competitions are the SGB Premiership Knockout Cup (tier one), the SGB Championship Knockout Cup (tier two) and the National League Knockout Cup (tier three). The cups have been run in the past under the associated name of the League at the time. For example Elite League Knockout Cup when tier one was the Elite League, a Premier League Knockout Cup when tier two was the Premier League and so on. Knockout Cups (chronological order) Tier One *National Trophy 1931–1964 *British League Knockout Cup 1965–1967 * British League Division One Knockout Cup 1968–1974 *British League Knockout Cup 1975–1994 *Premier League Knockout Cup 1995–1996 *Elite League Knockout Cup 1997–2012 * not held, 2012-2016 * SGB Premiership Knockout Cup 2017 ...
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Ken Middleditch
Kenneth Arthur Middleditch (5 October 1925 – 9 January 2021) was a motorcycle speedway rider from England. Career Middleditch served in the RAF in World War II as a rear gunner, and became interested in speedway while stationed in Egypt.Morgan, Tom (1949) ''Who's Who in Speedway'', Sport-in-Print, p. 53 Middleditch signed for Third Division team Hastings in 1948 after progressing through Eastbourne's speedway training school. By 1949 he had become Hastings top points scorer but at the end of that year Hastings were forced to close down and he signed for Poole. Middleditch had a successful career at Poole, forming an effective pairing with Poole rider Tony Lewis. He won the National League Division Three Rider's Championship, held at Penarth Road Stadium in Cardiff on 23 October 1951. He eventually became the team captain and won four league titles with the club. In 1954, he won the National League Division Two Rider's Championship, held at Hyde Road on 16 October. Mid ...
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Brian Crutcher
Brian Crutcher (born 23 August 1934 in Poole, England) is a former international speedway rider who finished second at the 1954 Speedway World Championship finals. Career Crutcher made his debut for third division team the Poole Pirates in 1951 at age 16. He made his first World Final appearance in only his second year of racing in 1952, finishing in twelfth place. At the start of 1953 Crutcher moved to first division team the Wembley Lions and appeared in the next four World Championship finals, finishing second in 1954 behind Ronnie Moore.Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Speedway Championship''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. Wembley closed down in 1956 and Crutcher moved to the Southampton Saints until he retired from the sport in 1960. World Final appearances * 1952 - London, Wembley Stadium - 11th - 6pts * 1953 - London, Wembley Stadium - 10th - 6pts * 1954 - London, Wembley Stadium - Second - 13pts * 1955 - London, Wembley Stadium - 5th - 10 ...
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Fred Brand
Charles Frederick Brand (1925–2016) was an English speedway rider. Speedway career Brand reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in the 1954 Individual Speedway World Championship. He rode in the British speedway leagues, riding mainly for the Yarmouth Bloaters where he earned the nickname the "Master of Caister Road". World final appearances Individual World Championship * 1954 - London, Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ... - 8th - 7pts References 1925 births 2016 deaths British speedway riders Yarmouth Bloaters riders Norwich Stars riders {{England-speedway-bio-stub ...
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Derick Close
Derick Close (born 13 May 1927 in Bowes, County Durham, England) was a former international motorcycle speedway rider who reached the final of Speedway World Championship in 1952.Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Speedway Championship''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. Career Close started his career with the Middlesbrough Bears in 1947 followed by a short spell on loan with the Newcastle Diamonds at the start of 1948. He returned to the Bears and established himself in the team. In 1949 he rejoined Newcastle where he spent the next three seasons before joining the Lanarkshire Eagles mid season in 1951.Henry, J. & Moultray, I. (2001). ''Speedway in Scotland''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing The 1952 season proved to be the best of his career after receiving a call up to ride for England despite riding in National League Division Two, having never ridden in the top flight.Foster, P. (2005) ''History of the Speedway Ashes'', The History Press Ltd. He also reach ...
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Oxford Cheetahs
The Oxford Cheetahs are a British speedway teamLawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. based at Oxford Stadium, in Oxford, England. They were founded in 1939 and are five times champions of Britain, in 1964, 1985, 1986, 1989 and 2001. The club folded in 2007 but in 2021, it was announced that the Oxford Cheetahs will make a long-awaited return to racing, participating in the SGB Championship 2022. Throughout their history they ran under two other names, from 1972 to 1975, they were known as Oxford Rebels and from 2003 to 2005, they were known as Oxford Silver Machine. They also ran junior sides known as the Oxford Cubs, Oxford Silver Machine Academy, Oxford Lions and the Oxford Chargers. History 1939-1948 The Oxford Motorcycle Speedway Club moved to Oxford Stadium in 1939 from a grass circuit in Sandford-on-Thames. The Secretary Ted Mander orchestrated the move and the first individual meeting was held on Easter Saturday 8 April 1939 won by Roy Duke. The club co ...
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Liverpool Chads
Liverpool Chads are a defunct motorcycle speedway team who were based at the Stanley Stadium in Prescot Road, Fairfield, Liverpool, England.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing History Liverpool Speedway's team was established the late 1920s. League racing first took place in 1929 with the formation of the English Dirt Track League, effectively a Northern League, which ran alongside the Southern League. In 1930 the team competed in the Northern League. They were known during this time as Liverpool Merseysiders. The Liverpool promotion were attached to the Belle Vue Aces promotion during this time but midway through 1937 the club folded and the riders moved to Belle Vue. When the sport was revived in 1949 the team were known as Liverpool Chads. The team's nickname referred to a popular piece of cartoon graffiti at the time known as a ''Chad''. They opened again in the National League Division Three and were again based at Sta ...
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Stoke Potters
The Stoke Potters previously the Hanley Potters were a British speedway team competing in the National League. As Stoke, the team raced at Loomer Road Stadium in Newcastle-under-Lyme. As Hanley Potters they raced from 1929 to 1963. History Hanley Potters were inaugural members of the 1929 Speedway English Dirt Track League but withdrew during the season and their results were expunged. They rode at the Sun Street Stadium in Hanley. In the late 1940s, early 1950s and the early 1960s, the club attracted crowds of over 12,000. Hanley won the National League Division Three and Div 3 National Trophy in 1949. The Sun Street track closed in 1963 after the greyhound stadium owners sold the site to a garage business. The team returned in 1972 riding at a new venue the Loomer Road Stadium; they were known for one season as Chesterton Potters. From 1973 to 1995 they competed mainly in the National League. In 1996, The team rode as the Cradley & Stoke Heathens, after the Cradley ...
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