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Southern Riders' Championship
The Southern Riders' Championship was an individual speedway competition inaugurated in 1958 for top riders of teams from the South of Great Britain and staged intermittently until 1991. Winners ''* 1962 and 1964 - Provincial League Southern Riders Championship'' References Speedway competitions in the United Kingdom {{UK-motorcycle-speedway-competition-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motorcycle Speedway
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only one gear and have no brakes. Racing takes place on a flat oval track usually consisting of dirt, loosely packed shale, or crushed rock (mostly used in Australia and New Zealand). Competitors use this surface to slide their machines sideways, powersliding or broadsiding into the bends. On the straight sections of the track, the motorcycles reach speeds of up to . There are now both domestic and international competitions in a number of countries, including the Speedway World Cup, whilst the highest overall scoring individual in the Speedway Grand Prix events is pronounced the world champion. Speedway is popular in Central and Northern Europe and to a lesser extent in Australia and North America. A variant of track racing, speedway is adm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolverhampton Wolves
Wolverhampton Wolves are a British speedway team based in Wolverhampton, England. They are sponsored by Parry's International Travel, and signed a deal with owner Dave Parry (previous speedway rider for the Wolverhampton Wolves) for the 2008 season onwards. The team is managed by Peter Adams and the promoter of the club is Chris Van Straaten. History 1928–1960 The club was founded in 1928 racing at Monmore Green Stadium, and after a brief flirtation with speedway, saw its last pre-war meeting in 1930. It was 20 years later that the sport returned to the town. During 1948 and the post-war optimism, record crowds were attending speedway events up and down the country. With towns keen to cash in on the boom, Wolverhampton's stadium owners applied to the local council for a track to be re-built at the original site. Australian Arthur Simcock set the ball rolling and was granted permission to promote speedway in Wolverhampton and finally his dream came true on 14 October 1950. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ipswich Witches
The Ipswich Witches are a British speedway club based at Foxhall Stadium near Ipswich, Suffolk. They compete in the British SGB Premiership. Meetings are staged on most Thursdays from March until October, normally commencing at 7.30pm (first race 7.45pm). The Witches are currently promoted by former Ipswich riders Chris Louis and Ritchie Hawkins. Chris Louis is the son of former rider and promoter John Louis History Early history Foxhall Stadium was purpose-built for speedway in 1950, and meetings were held there from 1951 to 1965 when the track was resurfaced for stock car racing. Attendances approached 20,000 and made stars of riders such as Syd Clarke, Junior Bainbridge, Tich Read and Peter Moore. The inaugural league season was the 1952 Speedway Southern League, where the team finished 8th. After 10 seasons of league speedway the team withdrew from the 1962 Speedway National League mid-season. Their best placing to that date had been a third place finish in 1953. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Louis (speedway Rider)
John "Tiger" Louis (born 14 June 1941) is an England international Motorcycle speedway rider who rode for Ipswich, Newport, West Ham, Oxford, Wembley, Halifax and King's Lynn during his career. He is the father of Great Britain International Chris Louis. Career history Ipswich born Louis started his motorcycling career in scrambling and was tempted to have a go at speedway when Ipswich re-opened in 1969. He made his debut in 1970 and by the following year topped the national Second Division averages. In 1972 Ipswich gained admission to the top flight by purchasing West Ham's licence and Louis spearheaded the Witches team, making his World Final debut at London's Wembley Stadium in 1972, finishing in 5th place. Louis finished fourth at the 1974 World Final at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden and improved to third in the 1975 World Final at Wembley - becoming the first British rider to stand on the World Championship podium since Peter Craven in 1962. Louis was pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy Jansson
Per Tommy Jansson (2 October 1952 – 20 May 1976) was a motorcycle speedway rider. He was one of Sweden's most exciting speedway prospects in the 1970s but was killed in the Swedish Final a World Championship Qualifying Round meeting. He was the son of former Swedish International speedway rider Joel Jansson. His brother Bo (Bosse) Jansson was also a speedway rider. Speedway career Jansson initially appeared in the UK on 23 July 1970 while touring with the Young Sweden team in a British League Division Two test series against Young England. He rode at Teesside, scoring 10 points. He was injured in the second test match, at Workington, the following night, and he returned to Sweden. He came to England in 1971 to ride for the Wembley Lions making his debut on 9 April, in an away match against Wolverhampton, where he scored 6 points. But his stay with the Lions only lasted for three British League Division One matches. Although he did continue to race in the UK for the Young Swe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King's Lynn Stars
King's Lynn Stars are a motorcycle speedway team who compete in the SGB Premiership. The nickname "Stars" comes from the defunct Norwich Stars team. The team was founded in 1965 and has been running continually since then, except for 1996 when King's Lynn failed to have a team competing in the British league system. History 1966–1995 The team's inaugural season was the 1966 British League season, where they finished 16th. They managed to finish in third place during the 1972 and 1973 seasons with their strongest riders being Terry Betts and Malcolm Simmons. The first silverware won by the team was the Knockout Cup in 1977. They won the final by the small margin of two points on aggregate, thanks largely to Michael Lee and Betts. The team continued to compete in the highest division until the end of the 1995 season but failed to finish any higher than 4th place. The team has operated with a few different nicknames, including: the Knights; Silver Machine (as an additional nic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry Betts
Terence Arnold Betts (born 15 September 1943 in Harlow, Essex, England) is a former international speedway rider who reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in 1974. He became World Pairs Champion with Ray Wilson in 1972 and was a member of the Great Britain team that won the World Team Cup in 1972 and 1973. Career summary Betts began his career with the Norwich Stars but joined the King's Lynn Stars in 1965 after the closure of Norwich . He remained there for the majority of his career, spending one season with Reading Racers before he retired on the eve of the 1980 season. He was awarded a testimonial meeting in 1975 after ten years of continuous service to the club. Betts was a regular England international. In 2005, Betts was voted as the greatest King's Lynn Stars rider of all time by the club's fans. World Final Appearances Individual World Championship * 1974 - Göteborg, Ullevi - 12th - 6ptsBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Spee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King's Lynn Stadium
King's Lynn Stadium, also known as the Adrian Flux Arena and previously as the Norfolk Arena, is a short oval stadium situated to the south of King's Lynn on Saddlebow Road in Norfolk County, England. It currently hosts BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Car Racing, Banger racing, motorcycle speedway and is also a former greyhound racing track. Origins The stadium was constructed in 1951 on the west side of Saddlebow Road next door to a poultry farm. It originally opened for greyhound racing. Stock car racing Since 1955 it has hosted BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Car Racing for which it has hosted World Final events for in 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2019. It's set to hold the World Final again in September 2020 with this year's winner Tom Harris defending his title. Speedway The stadium has been the home of the King's Lynn Stars speedway team since 1965. It hosted the Final of the 1984 European (World) Under-21 Championship won by England's Marvyn Cox. The shale-surfaced track is long and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hackney Hawks
Hackney Hawks speedway opened in 1963 at Hackney Wick Stadium, Waterden Road, London and operated until 1983. The team replaced the Hackney Wick Wolves who had raced at the stadium from 1935 to 1939. The Hawks were then themselves replaced by the Hackney Kestrels. Early days Originally opened by Mike Parker, the team joined the Provincial League in 1963.Rogers, Martin (1963) "Hackney Hawks Here to Stay?", ''Speedway Star'', 1 June 1963, p. 16 The team finished 10th in their debut season in the 1963 Provincial Speedway League. The promotion was then sold to Len Silver who was the club's promoter for the next twenty seasons. The riders and track staff marched onto the track to the sound of the theme tune of the film The Magnificent Seven and that tune inspires more memories for Hackney Hawks fans than anything else. The Hawks were closely linked with sister track the Rayleigh Rockets and latterly the Rye House Rockets. In 1971, Hackney won their only major honour when they beat Cra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin Pratt
Colin George Pratt (10 October 1938 – 2 October 2021) was a British motorcycle speedway rider and later promoter of the Coventry Bees who compete in the British Elite League. Racing career Born in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, Pratt lived near to Mike Broadbank from whom he bought his first speedway bike at the age of nineteen, and practised at the nearby Rye House track.Oakes, Peter (1963) "A Peter Oakes Speedtale on Colin Pratt: Saints Must Regret Their Decision", ''Speedway Star'', 27 July 1963, p. 16 After his National Service, he returned to the Rye House training track in 1960 and had his first competitive rides, reaching the final of the Whitsun Trophy. He was signed by the Southampton Saints, where he made his National League debut against Oxford. A broken wrist sustained at Swindon brought his debut season to an early end. He had only second-half rides for Southampton in 1961, and was loaned to Poole Pirates for whom he rode in three matches, Ipswich Witches (two matches ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monmore Green Stadium
Monmore Green Stadium is a greyhound racing and speedway stadium located in Wolverhampton. The stadium has private suites, a restaurant and a number of bars. The venue is owned and operated by the Ladbrokes Coral group. Speedway Motorcycle speedway is raced there on Monday nights with the Wolverhampton Wolves competing in the top division of the sport, the Elite League where the team is captained by Speedway Grand Prix rider, Sweden's Fredrik Lindgren. Other riders who have ridden for the Wolves over the years include Britain's twice Speedway World Champion Tai Woffinden, multiple World Champions Ole Olsen and Hans Nielsen from Denmark, 1993 World Champion Sam Ermolenko of the United States and assorted others including England's Andy Grahame, Australians Jim Airey and Mark Fiora and America's 1982 World Pairs Champions Dennis Sigalos and Bobby Schwartz. On some alternate Monday nights, National League team Cradley Heathens also race at Monmore Green (Affectionately ni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy Sweetman
Thomas Henry Sweetman (born 21 July 1930) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England. Career Sweetman started his British leagues career for Aldershot Shots in the 1954 Southern Area League but the team withdrew and he finished the season with California Poppies, where he won the leagues with the club. He spent the 1955 and 1956 seasons with the Poppies but in 1956 he also rode for nomadic Southern Rovers. In 1957, he rode for the Rayleigh Rockets reserve team before taking the big step up to the National League, where he joined the Norwich Stars for the 1958 Speedway National League season. In 1959 he switched to Swindon Robins and doubled up with the Rye House Rockets in the Southern League, where he finished sixth in the league averages. The following season he joined New Cross Rangers for the 1960 Speedway National League and also raced for them in 1961. This was also the same year that he started his Wolverhampton Wolves career. It was with Wolves that he won ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
