Raymond Maurice Cresp (25 August 1928 - 20 August 2022) was an international speedway rider from Australia. He earned 4 international caps for the

Australia national speedway team Australia is one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway with the country regarded as the birthplace of the sport in the 1920s. The current team is managed by former rider Mark Lemon, and captained by 2012 World Champion Chris ...

and 6 caps for the

Great Britain national speedway team The Great Britain Speedway Team (also known as GB Speedway Team) is one of the major teams in international speedway. The team is managed by former Great Britain riders Oliver Allen and Simon Stead, and captained by the 2018 Speedway World Champ ...

Speedway career

Cresp was a professional boxer as a teenager before taking up road racing and moto cross. He was mentored by

Jack Biggs Jack Edward Biggs (21 March 1922 – 8 December 1972) was a speedway rider from Australia. Speedway career Biggs was a leading speedway rider in the 1950s. He reached the final of the Speedway World Championship on four occasions including fi ...

before he moved to the UK in 1956. He rode in the top tier of British Speedway from 1956 to 1966, riding for various clubs. He gained four Australian caps and six British caps (when riders from Oceania were allowed to represent Britain. Cresp reached the final of the

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 the

1961 Individual Speedway World Championship The 1961 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 16th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. The final was held outside of Wembley and England for the first time when on the 15 September Ove Fundi ...

. He was a builder by trade and when he returned to Australia he enjoyed fly-fishing. He died in 2022.

World final appearances

Individual World Championship

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

–

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

Malmö Stadion Malmö Stadion, often known simply as Stadion before the construction of the new Stadion between 2007 and 2009, is a multi-purpose stadium in Malmö, Sweden. As of 2015, it is the home of association football club IFK Malmö, presently of Div ...

- 14th - 3pts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cresp, Ray 1928 births 2022 deaths Australian speedway riders Eastbourne Eagles riders Ipswich Witches riders Long Eaton Archers riders Norwich Stars riders Oxford Cheetahs riders Poole Pirates riders St Austell Gulls riders Wembley Lions riders West Ham Hammers riders