Brian Collins (born 13 May 1948 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland) is a 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.

Career

Collins spent the first four years of his British speedway 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 ...

from 1966 to 1969, although they were known as Coatbridge from 1968 to 1969. In 1968, he top scored for Scotland against England in a test match. In 1970 and 1971, he rode for Wembley after the London team bought the Coatbridge licence before moving on to

Poole Pirates Poole Pirates (also known as Poole Speedway) are a motorcycle speedway team based in Poole, England, competing in the SGB Championship. The club have been the champions of the United Kingdom on ten occasions. Poole Speedway is promoted by l ...

for two years. He joined the Coatbridge/Glasgow Tigers in 1974 and won the Scottish Open Champion in 1975. Also in 1975, Collins finished runner up in the 1975 The National League Riders Championship at Wimbledon. After two unbeaten rides, Collins came out against the only other unbeaten rider

Paul Gachet Paul-Ferdinand Gachet (30 July 1828 – 9 January 1909) was a French physician most famous for treating the painter Vincent van Gogh during his last weeks in Auvers-sur-Oise. Gachet was a great supporter of artists and the Impressionist movement ...

. In their third heat, both Collins and Gachet were cut up before the first bend, Gachet's wheel being struck and, in holding his machine steady, the young Eagle found himself at the back. As he managed to pass Collins, his bike reared on the notorious second bend of Plough Lane and both he and Collins fell. Gachet was carried off and, in the re-run, Collins scored 3 points. Collins went out in the final heat needing only 1 point for a run-off and 2 for the crown. Lying second behind Les Rumsey, he fell on the third lap, remounted, but was too far behind to catch up. Then,

Brian Clarke Brian Clarke (born 2 July 1953) is a British painter, architectural artist and printmaker, known for his large-scale stained glass and mosaic projects, symbolist paintings, set designs, and collaborations with major figures in Modern and conte ...

, in third place, fell off in the same spot and Collins went past him for the vital 1 point. With just two riders in the run-off

Laurie Etheridge Laurie Etheridge (born 12 September 1948 in Pulborough, England) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from England. He earned one international cap for the England national speedway team. Career His first attempt at speedway, i ...

rode across Collins before the first bend and Collins picked himself up from the track and watched from the centre green as Etheridge completed four laps to become champion. Collins rode the remainder of his career for

Berwick Bandits The Berwick Bandits are a British speedway club, based in Berwick-upon-Tweed. They currently compete in the SGB Championship, racing at Shielfield Park, with home matches usually taking place on Saturday evenings. They also run a second team in ...

, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Brian 1948 births Living people British motorcycle racers British speedway riders Scottish speedway riders Berwick Bandits riders Edinburgh Monarchs riders Glasgow Tigers riders Poole Pirates riders Wembley Lions riders