Miloslav Špinka (3 December 1919 – 26 April 2009) was a Czech

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 ...

. He earned international caps for the

Czechoslovakia national speedway team The Czech Republic are one of the major teams in international speedway. They have never won the competition but have appeared in eight finals. Speedway World Team Cup Team U-21 World Championship Team U-19 European Championship S ...

Biography

Špinka came to prominence after winning the bronze medal at the

Golden Helmet of Pardubice The Golden Helmet of Pardubice (Czech: Zlatá přilba) is a speedway competition hosted annually in Pardubice, the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known a ...

. He also took part in ice races and won the first post-war competition in Czechoslovakia, held in 1947 on

Kamencové jezero Kamencové jezero ( Alum Lake) is a lake in the municipal area of Chomutov, Czech Republic. It is artificial in that it came into being due to 18th century mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials f ...

Chomutov Chomutov (; german: Komotau) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. There are almost 80,000 inhabitants in the city's wider metropolitan area. The city centre is well preserved and is protec ...

. In 1950 and 1956, he was runner-up in the

Czech Republic Individual Speedway Championship The Czech Republic Individual Speedway Championship is a Motorcycle speedway championship held each year to determine the Czech Republic national champion. History It was first staged in 1949, and was known as the Czechoslovakia Individual Speed ...

and in 1956, was called up to the Czechoslovak speedway national team, where he remained a member until 1961. On 31 May 1959, he was the first Czechoslovak rider to win the qualifying round of the individual world championships, winning the quarter final during the

1959 Individual Speedway World Championship The 1959 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 14th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. The event was sponsored by the Sunday Pictorial. New Zealand continued their recent domination as Ron ...

, held at Stražišče Sports Park in

Kranj Kranj (, german: Krainburg) is the third-largest city in Slovenia, with a population of 37,941 (2020). It is located approximately northwest of Ljubljana. The centre of the City Municipality of Kranj and of the traditional region of Upper Carniol ...

. In 1959 and 1961 he advanced to the semi-finals of the individual European Long Track Championships. He was a pioneer of this discipline in the country, winning all competitions in this type of sport until 1956. In the late 1950s he promoted ice speedways in the Soviet Union and last appeared in a speedway competition at the age of 51, on the track in Marianske Lazne. After he retired he remained involved in speedway as a member of the Pardubice Automotoklub Zlatá přilba.

Family

His son

Milan Špinka Milan Špinka (born 5 May 1951) is a former international speedway rider from Czechoslovakia. Speedway career Špinka won the gold medal at the Individual Ice Speedway World Championship in the 1974 Individual Ice Speedway World Championship. ...

was also an international speedway rider.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spinka, Miloslav 1919 births 2009 deaths Czech speedway riders Czechoslovak speedway riders