Colin Trevor Meredith (born 24 January 1953) 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 from England, who later became a team manager and track curator.

Biography

Born in

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

, Meredith first rode a speedway bike on Ainsdale Sands in 1970, and after second half rides at Belle Vue made his league debut in the second division with

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the Championship, the second tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs ...

in 1971.Oakes, Peter & Mauger, Ivan (1976) ''Who's Who of World Speedway'', Studio Publications, , p. 82 In 1972 he rode for

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predomi ...

in the second division and

Wolverhampton Wolves Wolverhampton Wolves are a British speedway team based in Wolverhampton, England. They are sponsored by Parry's International Travel, and signed a deal with owner Dave Parry (previous speedway rider for the Wolverhampton Wolves) for the 2008 ...

in the first and continued this doubling-up arrangement until 1975. In 1974 he was selected in the Young England team against

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, and reached the Second Division Riders Final that year, finishing in seventh place. He rode again for Young England in 1975, against Scotland. In 1976 he rode for Wolves,

Stoke Potters The Stoke Potters previously the Hanley Potters were a British speedway team competing in the National League. As Stoke, the team raced at Loomer Road Stadium in Newcastle-under-Lyme. As Hanley Potters they raced from 1929 to 1963. History H ...

and

Oxford Cheetahs The Oxford Cheetahs are a British speedway teamLawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. based at Oxford Stadium, in Oxford, England. They were founded in 1939 and are five times champions of Britain, in 1964, 1985, 1986, 1989 and ...

, and went on to ride for Oxford for the next three seasons. In 1978 he also doubled up in the

British League The British League was the main motorcycle speedway league in Britain from its formation in 1965 until 1995 when British speedway was restructured. It initially had a single division, with a second division starting in 1968 (which was renamed the ...

with

Leicester Lions Leicester Lions are a speedway team which originally operated from 1968 until 1983.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. The club returned to speedway for the 2011 Premier League season, moving up to the Elite League ...

on loan, but his season was cut short after a crash at

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

.Jones, Alan (2010) ''Speedway in Leicester: The Lions Roar'', Automedia, p. 157 He retired from racing in 1979. Meredith went on to become a track curator, working at Leicester and then at

Coventry Bees Coventry Bees were a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon near Coventry, England. History A Coventry team was first formed in 1928 and competed in the inaugural season of the Southern ...

for seventeen years up to 1998, also acting as team manager of the Bees for two years. From 1999 to 2002 he was team manager and track curator at

, leading them to the Elite League title in 2001. In 2003 he became curator of the Peterborough Panthers track at the

East of England Showground The East of England Showground is a large showground area (667,731sqm) located on East of England Way in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The Showground is owned by Bellway as of around 2019 and the site currently includes the East of Engla ...

. He later took over responsibility for the Belle Vue track. He went on to become an official for the

Speedway Control Bureau The Speedway Control Bureau (SCB), known as the Speedway Control Board between 1948 and 2002, governs the sport of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom on behalf of the Auto Cycle Union (ACU). The directors are appointed by the ACU and Br ...

.Air fence for Bandits?
", ''Berwick Advertiser'', 14 January 2009, retrieved 2012-03-24

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meredith, Colin 1953 births Living people British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Sportspeople from Hereford Wolverhampton Wolves riders Stoke Potters riders Oxford Cheetahs riders Leicester Lions riders