The Sunderland Stars were a

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 who raced at the

Sunderland Greyhound Stadium Sunderland Greyhound Stadium is a greyhound racing track situated at Fulwell in the City of Sunderland and English county of Tyne and Wear. The stadium is owned by ARC and racing takes place every Wednesday and Friday evening as well as an ad ...

from 1971 until 1974 in the Britrish League Division Two when

Len Silver Len Silver (born 2 February 1932, east London, United Kingdom) is a former speedway rider and is former promoter of the Rye House Rockets. Racing career Silver stopped racing in 1957 but returned to the Ipswich Witches in 1960 after a layoff d ...

acted as promoter on behalf of Allied Presentations Ltd.

History

Speedway was operational at the venue for part of one season when eight meetings were staged in 1964 under the "Saints" nickname. The Saints introduced Aussies

Jim Airey James Sydney Airey (born 19 August 1941 in Earlwood, New South Wales) is a former Australian international motorcycle speedway rider who rode in the 1971 World Final in Göteborg, Sweden and was a member of the Great Britain team that won t ...

and

Gordon Guasco Gordon Guasco (born 24 November 1940 in Sydney, New South Wales - died, 16 November 1970 in Sydney) was an Australian motorcycle speedway rider who was a favourite at both the Sydney Showground Speedway and Liverpool Speedway. Guasco also r ...

to British Speedway during 1964. The inaugural season of league speedway took place during the

1971 British League Division Two season The 1971 British League Division Two season was the second tier/division motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. Summary The league continued with 17 teams in its fourth season despite Reading Racers moving up to Division One and two teams dropping ...

but unfortunately the team finished 17th out of 17. This was followed by two seasons with 12th and 11th place finishes. In 1974, the club came under new ownership and were nicknamed the "Gladiators". It was also their final season before closure.

Season summary

Notable riders

* George Barclay * Russ Dent *

Brian Havelock Career Robert Brian Havelock (born 9 May 1942 in Yarm, Yorkshire) is a former motorcycle speedway rider and is the former promoter of the Redcar Bears, who compete in the Premier League.Oakes, P. (2004). ''British Speedway Who's Who''. A long ...

* Vic Harding * Jack Millen

References

Defunct speedway teams in the United Kingdom {{motorcycle-speedway-team-stub