Robert Francis Duckworth (25 August 1929 – 1 November 2023) was a New Zealand 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.

Speedway career

Duckworth began riding speedway at Tahuna Park in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

in 1949. He moved to England in 1951 and joined the

Belle Vue Aces The Belle Vue Aces are a British motorcycle speedway, speedway club, based in Manchester. The club hold the record of having won the top tier List of United Kingdom speedway league champions, League championship 13 times. They currently compete ...

, but only made four appearances in his first two seasons with the team. In 1953 he rode for the

St Austell Gulls The St Austell Gulls were a speedway team which operated from 1949 until their closure in 1964 at the Cornish Stadium at Par, St Austell in Cornwall. In 1997 the team rode at the Clay Country Moto Parc until the club finally closed in 2000. E ...

in the Southern League. The following year he rejoined Belle Vue in the top tier of British Speedway. The Belle Vue promoter

Johnnie Hoskins Johnnie S. Hoskins MBE (1892 Waitara, New Zealand – 1987 Kent, England) was the most significant promoter of speedway and stock car racing in the United Kingdom, he is considered by some to have invented motorcycle speedway. Early life Born at ...

paid £2.10s for his transfer from St Austell, and gave him the nickname of ‘Fifty Bob’ Duckworth. During his second spell with Belle Vue he progressed to become one of the team's heat leaders. In 1961 he finished in the top ten averages of UK speedway in the

Speedway National League The current National Development League formerly the National League was formed in 2009 as the third division of speedway in the United Kingdom, replacing the Conference League. It follows the same rules and regulations as the SGB Premiership an ...

despite being injured in early August and unable to ride for the rest of the season. He resumed riding for Belle Vue in June 1962 but was unable to regain his previous form. In 1963 he rode for the

Newcastle Diamonds Newcastle Diamonds were a motorcycle speedway team that raced in the SGB Championship, every Sunday night during the season (March–October) from their home at the Newcastle Stadium on the Fossway, Byker. The Stadium, previously known as Broug ...

in the Provincial League. The following year he returned to New Zealand where he continued to ride until the early 1970s at

Western Springs Stadium Western Springs Stadium is a stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. Built within a natural amphitheatre, it is primarily used for rugby union matches during the winter and for speedway during the summer. It is also occasionally used for large concer ...

. In 1964 he finished third equal on points in the New Zealand Speedway Championship but lost the runoff for third place to Bob Andrews. Duckworth represented his country New Zealand in the

1960 Speedway World Team Cup 1960 Speedway World Team Cup was the first edition of the FIM Speedway World Team Cup to determine the team world champions. The final took place in Gothenburg, Sweden. The World Champion title was won by Sweden team (44 pts) who beat England (30 ...

and

1961 Speedway World Team Cup 1961 Speedway World Team Cup was the second edition of the FIM Speedway World Team Cup to determine the team world champions. The final took place in Wrocław, Poland. The World Champion title was won by Poland team (32 pts) who beat Sweden (31 ...

. Duckworth competed in the Championship Round of the

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 ...

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 ...

and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

and the British/Commonwealth Round in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

. In 1961 he qualified for the British semi-final of the World Championship but was injured during the meeting at Southampton in August and had to withdraw.

Death

Duckworth died in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

on 1 November 2023, at the age of 94.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duckworth, Bob 1929 births 2023 deaths New Zealand speedway riders Belle Vue Aces riders Newcastle Diamonds riders Sportspeople from Southland, New Zealand