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Armadale Stadium is a motorcycle speedway and former greyhound racing stadium situated in the town of Armadale, West Lothian in Scotland. Stock car racing has also been held at the venue.


Speedway

It has been home to the Edinburgh Monarchs speedway team since 1997. In 2009, the Edinburgh Monarchs reached agreement with
Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...
for the stadium to be purchased and re-developed as a supermarket, subject to planning permission being granted by
West Lothian Council West Lothian Council is the local authority for the council area of West Lothian in Scotland. History West Lothian District Council was created in 1975 as one of four districts within the Lothian region. The West Lothian district took its name ...
. This was not forthcoming, the application being rejected in June 2010. The speedway track at Armadale has a unique feature whereby the start line and finish line are staggered. Until 2013, the start/finish line was on hat is nowthe back straight. In 2013 the start line was moved to the current home straight, and was in the same position that the finish line is now. During the 2013 season there were a number of frightening first bend bunching incidents, and the decision was taken to move the start line back by approximately 5 metres to give more time for the riders to settle into the first bend safely. The finish line remained in the same position as it currently is so that there was greater opportunity for passing on the run to the line off the final bend.


Greyhound racing

The greyhound track near Bathgate Road opened on 20 February 1939 just four days after the Armadale greyhound track at Volunteer Park closed. In later years two races called the West Lothian Stakes and Armadale Sprint Championships were introduced and remained feature races. Track distances were 330 and 540 yards. Armadale was mainly
handicap races A handicap race in horse racing is a race in which horses carry different weights, allocated by the handicapper. A better horse will carry a heavier weight, to give it a disadvantage when racing against slower horses. The skill in betting on a h ...
and there were regular opens for the higher class of greyhound with a main distance of 525 yards. TD Heffernan was involved in opening of the new track. The owners of Armadale greyhound stadium announced on 8 October 2016 that they were ending the greyhound operation.


References

Greyhound racing in Scotland Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Speedway venues in Scotland Sports venues in West Lothian 1939 establishments in Scotland Sports venues completed in 1939 Armadale, West Lothian {{motorcycle-speedway-stub