Derick Close (born 13 May 1927 in

Bowes Bowes is a village in County Durham, England. Located in the Pennine hills, it is situated close to Barnard Castle. It is built around the medieval Bowes Castle. Geography and administration Civic history Bowes lies within the historic count ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

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 ...

) 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 who 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 1952.Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Speedway Championship''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

Career

Close started his career with the

Middlesbrough Bears The Middlesbrough Bears were a British speedway team which operated under various names from 1939 until their closure in 1996. History The team was initially nicknamed the Bears in 1939 by the club's general manager Vic Wieland. The track at Cl ...

in 1947 followed by a short spell on loan with 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 ...

at the start of 1948. He returned to the Bears and established himself in the team. In 1949 he rejoined Newcastle where he spent the next three seasons before joining the

Lanarkshire Eagles Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

mid season in 1951.Henry, J. & Moultray, I. (2001). ''Speedway in Scotland''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing The 1952 season proved to be the best of his career after receiving a call up to ride for

despite riding in National League Division Two, having never ridden in the top flight.Foster, P. (2005) ''History of the Speedway Ashes'', The History Press Ltd. He also reached the final of the

. In 1953 he suffered a fractured skull and although he rode well again in 1954 he suffered a drop in form after joining the

Leicester Hunters The Leicester Hunters were a motorcycle speedway team which operated from 1948 until 1962.Bamford, R & Jarvis J. (2001) ''Homes of British Speedway'', , p. 147-149 History Speedway had operated before the war at both Leicester Stadium and the Lei ...

in 1955 and retired at the end of the season.

World final appearances

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

–

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 ...

– 14th – 4pts

References

1927 births Year of death missing British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Newcastle Diamonds riders Leicester Hunters riders People from Barnard Castle Sportspeople from County Durham {{England-speedway-bio-stub