Hastings Saxons were a British

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 ...

team which operated for two years between 1948 and 1949 at the Pilot Field in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

History

At the end of 1947, the

Eastbourne Eagles The Eastbourne Eagles were a British speedway team, based at Arlington Stadium, near Eastbourne, England, that raced in the SGB Championship. History Speedway was initially introduced to Eastbourne in 1929. During their first league season th ...

were forced to close down due to a petrol ban enforced at their

Arlington Stadium Arlington Stadium was a baseball stadium located in Arlington, Texas, United States, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. It served as the home for the Texas Rangers (MLB) from 1972 until 1993, after which the team moved into The Bal ...

. They decided to transfer their team to Hastings and at the beginning of 1948 the

Speedway Control Board 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 ...

granted a licence to Hastings to stage speedway. They entered the National League Division Three under the management of ex-

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

rider Charles Dugard. In their first meeting at their track at Pilot Field, approximately 5,000 people saw Hastings beat

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

44–39. Hastings finished the

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

league season in a mid table position in sixth place. They completed the

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

season in a similar mid table position (8th). At the end of 1949, Hastings were forced to close after a group residents living near to the track took legal action to prevent further racing. The residents claimed that the noise from the speedway motorcycles was a

public nuisance In English criminal law, public nuisance was a common law offence in which the injury, loss, or damage is suffered by the public, in general, rather than an individual, in particular. In Australia In ''Kent v Johnson'' the Supreme Court of the ...

. Notable riders were Jock Grierson,

Ken Middleditch Kenneth Arthur Middleditch (5 October 1925 – 9 January 2021) was a motorcycle speedway rider from England. Career Middleditch served in the RAF in World War II as a rear gunner, and became interested in speedway while stationed in Egypt.Mor ...

and Wally Green, who went on to race for

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

in the First Division and was runner up in the 1950 World Final. The Pilot Field is still in use by

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team Hastings United.

Season summary

References

{{Reflist

External links

Hastings Saxons Website
Sport in Hastings Defunct speedway teams in the United Kingdom Sport in East Sussex