Wilfred Graham Plant (28 August 1914 – May 2001) was 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 ...

rider.

Career

Born in

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes promo ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, Plant gained his early racing experience in

grasstrack Motorcycle Grasstrack is a form of track racing which typically, in its current form, takes place on a flat track consisting of two straights and two bends usually constructed in a field. It is one of the oldest types of motorcycle sports in the ...

.Morgan, Tom (1949) ''Who's Who in Speedway 1949'', Sport-in-Print, p. 61 After practising from 1934 at

Crayford Crayford is a town and electoral ward in South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies east of Bexleyheath and north west of Dartford. Crayford was in the historic county of Kent until 1965. The settlement deve ...

, he started his speedway career at the

Leicester Super Leicester Super was a motorcycle speedway team based at the Leicester Super Speedway near Melton Road. History Promotion company Speedways and Sports Ltd initially approached Leicestershire County Cricket Club in 1929 with a proposal to constr ...

track in 1936, winning the (unofficial) Midland Riders Championship, and joining

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich, ...

in 1937.Jones, Alan (2010) ''Speedway in Leicester: The Pre-War Years'', Automedia, p. 186 He moved team several times in the late 1930s, joining

Wimbledon Dons The Wimbledon Dons were a professional motorcycle speedway team who operated from the Wimbledon Stadium, Plough Lane in London.Jacobs, N. ''Speedway in London'', The track opened in 1928 and the Dons operated there from 1929 until 1991. They w ...

later in 1937,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in 1938, and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and then

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 1939. With the speedway leagues suspended during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Plant worked in his garage in

Asfordby Asfordby is a village and civil parish in the Melton district of Leicestershire, to the west of Melton Mowbray on the A6006 road. The village is north-east of Leicester. The village's name means 'farm/settlement of Asfrothr'. The parish consi ...

repairing tractors. He returned to Middlesbrough in 1946, moving on to

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

during the 1948 season, transferring for a fee of 1,000. In 1949, he captained the unofficial British team that toured

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Plant signed for

Coventry Bees Coventry Bees were a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon near Coventry, England. History A Coventry team was first formed in 1928 and competed in the inaugural season of the Southern ...

, and towards the end of the 1951 season, joined

Long Eaton Archers Long Eaton motorcycle speedway teams operated from 1950 until 1997 in Long Eaton, England. Teams have raced at the Long Eaton Stadium as the Long Eaton Archers, Long Eaton Rangers, Nottingham Outlaws and the Long Eaton Invaders. The Invaders ret ...

on loan, signing for the team in 1952, which was his last season, Plant retiring from the sport at the end of the season, although he did come out of retirement to ride in 'pirate' meetings at Long Eaton in 1954.Dalling, Philip (2007) ''Nottingham and Long Eaton Speedway'', Stadia, , p. 143-156 Plant's son

Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...

followed him into a career in speedway.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plant, Wilf 1914 births 2001 deaths British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Sportspeople from Melton Mowbray Long Eaton Archers riders Coventry Bees riders Fleetwood Flyers riders Middlesbrough Bears riders Wimbledon Dons riders People from the Borough of Melton