Robert Pearson "Bert" Harkins (born 15 April 1940) is a Scottish former

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 ...

rider.

Biography

His father a

fireman A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also a ...

, he was born in the Govan Fire Station in 1940. Harkins was initially a star of

cycle speedway Cycle speedway is a form of bicycle racing on short oval dirt tracks, usually outdoors, occasionally indoors, typically 70–90 metres long. Like motorcycle speedway, riders use machines without brakes or multiple gears but, unlike motor speed ...

who represented Scotland and reached two World Finals.Oakes, Peter & Mauger, Ivan (1976) ''Who's Who of World Speedway'', Studio Publications, , p. 202-3Scots speedway sensation takes his seat at sport's top table
, ''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'', 29 February 2008, retrieved 2012-03-15 He competed on motorcycles in road racing and first rode a speedway bike in 1961. While working as a

lawnmower A lawn mower (also known as a mower, grass cutter or lawnmower) is a device utilizing one or more revolving blades (or a reel) to cut a lawn, grass surface to an even height. The height of the cut grass may be fixed by the design of the mower, ...

mechanic for the Glasgow Parks Department he began his speedway career in the early 1960s, and represented Scotland against England in 1964, going on to represent Scotland several times both at home and around the world until 1973. He began his career with

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 cl ...

in 1963, riding for the team until 1969, after they had relocated to

Coatbridge Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as ...

.Bert Harkins
", edinburghmonarchs.co, retrieved 2012-03-15 In 1968 he travelled to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

where he won the

Victorian Individual Speedway Championship The Victorian Individual Speedway Championship is a Motorcycle speedway championship held annually in Australia's southernmost mainland state of Victoria to determine the State champion. The event is organised by the Motorcycling Victoria and is ...

. In 1970 he signed for

Wembley Lions The Wembley Lions were an English ice hockey team. History The team were founded in 1934 but showed a continuity with the London Lions team which had played at various venues since 1924. The Wembley team were based at the newly built Empire ...

where he spent two seasons, captaining the team after

Ove Fundin Ove Fundin (born 23 May 1933) is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1951 to 1970. Fundin is notable for winning the Speedway World Champ ...

retired, before moving on to

Sheffield Tigers The Sheffield 'Tru Plant' Tigers are a motorcycle speedway team based in Sheffield, England. They currently race in the British SGB Premiership, and their home meetings take place at Owlerton Stadium. The Tigers traditionally hold their race n ...

and then

Wimbledon Dons The Wimbledon Dons were a professional motorcycle speedway team who operated from the Wimbledon Stadium, Plough Lane in London.Jacobs, N. ''Speedway in London'', The track opened in 1928 and the Dons operated there from 1929 until 1991. They w ...

, where he rode for three seasons before trying his luck in the United States in 1976 with the Bakersfield Bandits. In 1977 he returned to British League action with Edinburgh, staying until the end of the 1979 season. His final season in British speedway was 1980, riding for

Milton Keynes Knights The Milton Keynes Knights are a Speedway team which originally operated from 1978 until their closure in 1992. The team were revived in 2012 but have had to race at various venues outside of Milton Keynes. History 1978–1988 The inaugural leag ...

. Harkins was a reserve in the 1971 British final, scoring two points. He finished fifth (with Jim McMillan) in the 1970 World Pairs Final. A familiar figure in his glasses and tartan hat, Harkins was nicknamed 'Haggis' and also 'Bertola' (after a brand of

Sherry Sherry ( es, jerez ) is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versi ...

sold in Scotland).Bert Harkins
", World Speedway Riders Association, retrieved 2012-03-15 Harkins was also known to take his pre-meeting parade lap (on his bike) while wearing his tartan hat and

kilt A kilt ( gd, fèileadh ; Irish: ''féileadh'') is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish Hi ...

. In 1977, Harkins won the Scottish Open Championship in

Blantyre Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...

. After speedway he concentrated on his motorcycle spares and accessories business, Bert Harkins Racing, and later managed the Scottish national team. In 2008 he became President of the World Speedway Riders Association, taking over the position from

Ivan Mauger Ivan Gerald Mauger (4 October 1939 – 16 April 2018) was a New Zealand motorcycle speedway rider. He won a record six Speedway World Championship, World Championships (Finals), a feat equalled only with the inclusion of the Speedway GP Champi ...

He has his own page on Facebook.

World Final appearances

World Pairs Championship

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

Malmö Stadion Malmö Stadion, often known simply as Stadion before the construction of the new Stadion between 2007 and 2009, is a multi-purpose stadium in Malmö, Sweden. As of 2015, it is the home of association football club IFK Malmö, presently of Div ...

(with Jim McMillan) - 4th - 18pts (8)

References

External links

Bert Harkins Racing
* https://www.worldspeedwayriders.org/rider/50/bert-harkins * https://www.facebook.com/bert.harkins {{DEFAULTSORT:Harkins, Bert 1940 births Living people British speedway riders Scottish speedway riders Scottish motorcycle racers Edinburgh Monarchs riders Wembley Lions riders Sheffield Tigers riders Wimbledon Dons riders Milton Keynes Knights riders Wolverhampton Wolves riders