Karl Fiala (born 30 January 1956 in

Harlow Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the upp ...

), 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.

Career

Silver Helmet Match Race (September 1979) Silver Helmet Match Race (October 1979) Knock-Out Cup Champions Rye House (1979) National League Champions Rye House (1980) Three outstanding performances. (1). On 1 May 1977 winning a World Championship Qualifying round at Rye House with a 15-point maximum. (2)

Rye House Rockets The Rye House Rockets were a speedway team based at Rye House Stadium, Hoddesdon, England. They competed in various British speedway leagues from 1954 to 2018. History Rye House began life in 1934 hosting open meetings. Whilst at Hackney in 1 ...

were away to

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 ...

where the Rockets won away 42-36 (25 April, Karl scoring a maximum 12 points). And (3) his proudest moment (quote from Karl), helping Rye House to win against

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 ...

on 9 October 1980 with a paid 15 point maximum having had to win the last race of the match to win the

National League (speedway) The current National Development League formerly the National League was formed in 2009 as the third division of speedway in the United Kingdom, replacing the Conference League. It follows the same rules and regulations as the SGB Premiership an ...

Championship. While racing for

Lawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. under the parent club

Hackney Hawks Hackney Hawks speedway opened in 1963 at Hackney Wick Stadium, Waterden Road, London and operated until 1983. The team replaced the Hackney Wick Wolves who had raced at the stadium from 1935 to 1939. The Hawks were then themselves replaced by the ...

, Karl also worked as an engineer for a company that made Life Support and Anaesthetic Equipment.

Personal life

In 1988, he joined a Direct Mail Print Company and, in 2002, started his own business in this line, which is still running today. A keen squash player until knee-joint problems forced retirement from league competition.

References

* Fenn, C. (2003). Hackney Speedway, Friday at Eight. . * Jacobs, Norman (2007). 70 Years of Rye House Speedway. * http://www.ryehouserockets.co/clubhistory * http://www.crash.net/speedway/news/100114/1/silver-protest-brings-fine.html * https://www.worldspeedwayriders.org/rider/29/karl-fiala 1956 births British motorcycle racers British speedway riders Hackney Hawks riders Rye House Rockets riders Living people {{England-speedway-bio-stub