Raymond Arthur Bales (born 6 June 1929 in

Norwich, Norfolk Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, w ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

), known as Billy Bales, was a former international

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 reached the final of

Speedway World Championship The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official championsh ...

in 1955.Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Speedway Championship''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

Career

Bales started his career with the

Yarmouth Bloaters The Yarmouth Bloaters were a motorcycle speedway team who operated from Yarmouth Stadium, Great Yarmouth from 1948 to 1962. History Speedway meetings had been taking place at Yarmouth Stadium since 1932. In 1948 the Yarmouth Bloaters speedway t ...

where he stayed until the start of 1950 when he was called up for

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

. On his return he joined his hometown club, the

Norwich Stars Norwich Stars were a motorcycle speedway team based in Norwich, England which operated from 1930 until their closure in 1964.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. History Speedway racing was staged in Norwich both before ...

and stayed there for thirteen consecutive seasons. The Stars won the National Trophy twice in that time and Bales was selected to ride for

as well as qualifying for the World Final in 1955.. Norwich closed in 1964 so Bales was forced to move on. He was signed by the

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 remained there until he retired in 1969.

World Final Appearances

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

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 ...

- 11th - 6pts

References

1929 births Living people British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Norwich Stars riders Sheffield Tigers riders Yarmouth Bloaters riders {{England-speedway-bio-stub