Graeme James Stapleton (born 1 February 1946) is 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 from New Zealand.

Speedway career

Stapleton competed in motocross in New Zealand in the 1960s and from mid 1967 to 1969 he lived in England and rode in motocross events in the UK and Europe. After returning to New Zealand he won the New Zealand 250cc motocross championship. In November 1970, he began riding speedway at the Templeton track in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

. The following year, he went to England and rode for the Canterbury Crusaders in the British League Division Two. He also made six appearances for the

Wimbledon Dons The Wimbledon Dons were a professional motorcycle speedway team who operated from the Wimbledon Stadium, Plough Lane in London.Jacobs, N. ''Speedway in London'', The track opened in 1928 and the Dons operated there from 1929 until 1991. They w ...

in 1971 and was a member of the team for the next three years. In 1975 and 1976, he did not ride in the British League because he was in New Zealand helping his business partner

Ronnie Moore Ronald David Moore (born 29 January 1953) is an English football manager and former player. He has taken charge of several clubs including Rotherham United, Tranmere Rovers and Hartlepool United. He played for many different clubs in a care ...

after he had a serious accident. Stapleton resumed riding in for Wimbledon in 1977 and 1978, and for the Newcastle Diamonds in 1978 and 1979. He also had two matches for the Hull Vikings in 1979. Stapleton reached the final of the Speedway World Pairs Championship in the

1973 Speedway World Pairs Championship The 1973 Speedway World Pairs Championship was the fourth FIM Speedway World Pairs Championship. The final took place in Borås, Sweden. The championship was won by the host country Sweden (24 points). The silver medal was won by Denmark who beat ...

, and represented New Zealand in other team events from 1972 to 1976. When he returned to New Zealand, Stapleton continued to ride at the Ruapuna speedway track in Christchurch until 1982. After this he drove three quarter midget cars at the track for several seasons.

World Final appearances

World Pairs Championship

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 66,273 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them the ...

(with Ivan Mauger) - 7th - 10pts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stapleton, Graeme 1946 births New Zealand speedway riders Canterbury Crusaders riders Hull Vikings riders Newcastle Diamonds riders Wimbledon Dons riders Sportspeople from Christchurch Living people