Peter Theodore Craven
, fansite biography by Jim Blanchard. (accessed 12 July 2006). (21 June 1934 – 24 September 1963)
by Trevor James on official Belle Vue site (accessed 12 July 2006). was an English motorcycle racer. He was a finalist in each FIM Speedway World Championship from 1954 to 1963 and he won the title twice (in 1955 and 1962). He was British Champion in 1962 and 1963.Belle Vue Aces 1928-2004
on official Belle Vue site (accessed 12 July 2006).

Personal life

Craven was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

and had four sisters and an older brother, Brian, who also became a speedway rider. He also had a twin brother who died at an early age. He got his first racing experience when he started participating in cycle speedway.

Career

Peter Craven got his first taste of motorcycle speedway racing in 1949 at the Stanley Stadium, Prescot Road, Liverpool. He visited the stadium a day after his sixteenth birthday and drove a few laps on his brother's bike, before hitting the safety fence and sustaining a concussion. He was later given another chance to show his abilities to the

Liverpool Chads Liverpool Chads are a defunct motorcycle speedway team who were based at the Stanley Stadium in Prescot Road, Fairfield, Liverpool, England.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing History Liverpoo ...

, but after just one lap he hit the fence again. Despite this, he was included as a reserve in the team's away match against the

Leicester Hunters The Leicester Hunters were a motorcycle speedway team which operated from 1948 until 1962.Bamford, R & Jarvis J. (2001) ''Homes of British Speedway'', , p. 147-149 History Speedway had operated before the war at both Leicester Stadium and the L ...

. He made eight league appearances for the Liverpool Chads in Division II during 1951, scoring eight points. and he was with the Chads when they finished thirteenth in Division Two."About Exeter Speedway 1951"
He also rode for the Fleetwood Flyers. The next year, he made 10 league appearances equally divided between Manchester’s Belle Vue and the Liverpool Chads. Craven made his Belle Vue debut on 17 May 1952 when he scored two points in a race against the visiting

Norwich Stars Norwich Stars were a motorcycle speedway team based in Norwich, England which operated from 1930 until their closure in 1964.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. History Speedway racing was staged in Norwich both befor ...

. That season, he made four more league appearances for Belle Vue, but he only managed to score one point in those races combined. In 1953, Peter became a regular Aces rider and scored 70 points in 12 matches, but the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

required his services, and he missed several matches. He continued racing for Belle Vue during his

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

. During 1954 he made 24 league appearances and top-scored for his club. He qualified for his first Wembley World final and scored one point more than the brilliant Swedish rider Ove Fundin. About this time as a young man he owned his Jowett Jupiter road car which still exists. In 1955, on his second try, Peter sensationally won the first of his two FIM World Championships at Wembley. In 1958, Peter captained the English team against Sweden in Sweden, finishing top scorer; he also top-scored in the five-test series against Australasia. In 1959 he took on Ove Fundin and won the Golden Helmet Match Race Championship, the Champions of Champions Cup at

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

; the Northern Cup at Belle Vue; the Internationale Derby at

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

; the Pride of the East at Norwich; the

Tom Farndon Tom Farndon (11 September 1910 – 30 August 1935), was a British speedway rider who won the Star Riders' Championship in 1933 whilst with the Crystal Palace Glaziers. Career Born in Coventry, Farndon started his career at the Lythalls L ...

Memorial Trophy at New Cross; the Champagne Derby again at Belle Vue, the CTS Trophy at Norwich and the Pride of the Midlands at Leicester. At the end of 1959, Craven travelled to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

where he spent the 1959/60 Australian season riding at the Rowley Park Speedway in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

where he regularly rode against Adelaide's own 1951 and 1952 World Champion Jack Young. Craven proved to be a popular rider in Adelaide. In 1960 Peter came third in the World Championship final staged at Wembley when Ove Fundin beat Ronnie Moore into second place after a thrilling run off, all three riders having scored an equal number of points after their five rides. During 1961 he captained the Lions on a tour to Austria. He came third in the first FIM Internationale Individual Trophy meeting at the Harringay Stadium and was second in the British Final at Wembley. 1962 was another good year for Peter. He followed his three British Championship victories by carrying off his second World Individual Championship at Wembley in front of 62,000 fans. Craven's son Robert was also a speedway rider.Bott, Richard (ed.) (1979) ''The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.3'', Stanley Paul & Co. Ltd., , p. 72-3

World final appearances

Individual World Championship

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

- 15th - 3pts *

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijiangs ...

- Winner - 13pts *

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

- 4th - 11pts + 2pts * 1957 -

- 3rd - 11pts + 3pts *

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

- 4th - 11pts + 2pts * 1959 -

- 9th - 7pts *

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

- 3rd - 14pts + 1pt *

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 (K ...

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 popul ...

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 ...

- 10th - 6pts * 1962 -

- Winner - 14pts * 1963 -

- 10th - 6pts

World Team Cup

* -

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, Ullevi (with Ron How /

Ken McKinlay John Robert Vickers (Ken) McKinlay (7 June 1928 – 9 February 2003) was an international speedway rider, captaining Scotland, England, Great Britain and Europe teams. He also finished on the rostrum of the British Speedway Championship fina ...

Nigel Boocock Nigel Boocock (17 September 1937 – 3 April 2015) was a British speedway rider who appeared in eight Speedway World Championship finals and was a reserve in one other (1962). Career Born in Wakefield, England, Boocock started his career with ...

/ George White) - 2nd - 30pts (8) *

* -

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, r ...

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

(with Ron How / Bob Andrews /

) - 3rd - 21pts (8) * 1962 - Slaný (with Barry Briggs /

Ronnie Moore Ronald David Moore (born 29 January 1953) is an English football manager and former player. He has taken charge of several clubs including Rotherham United, Tranmere Rovers and Hartlepool United. He played for many different clubs in a car ...

/ Ron How /

Cyril Maidment Cyril Maidment (1929-2004) was an international speedway rider from England. Speedway career Maidment reached the final of the Speedway World Championship on two occasions in the 1961 Individual Speedway World Championship and the 1964 Indiv ...

) - 2nd - 24pts (6) * 1963 -

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Stadion Wien (with Barry Briggs / Dick Fisher / Peter Moore) - 3rd - 25pts (8) ''* 1960 and 1961 for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. All others for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

.''

Death

Craven died as a result of a freak racing accident in a challenge match at Edinburgh's

Old Meadowbank Old Meadowbank was a multi-purpose sports facility located in the Meadowbank area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was mainly used as a football stadium by Leith Athletic between the 1930s and 1950s and as a motorcycle speedway track. The stadium was ...

stadium on 20 September 1963."Peter Craven Tragedy", '' Speedway Star'', 28 September 1963, p. 18 While taking evasive action to avoid hitting fallen race leader George Hunter who suffered

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

failure, Peter hit a fence. The unconscious Craven was rushed to the

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...

, where his family remained at his bedside until he died at 9.10pm on Tuesday 24 September 1963. There are allegations made that Peter Craven had started ten yards behind the other riders by way of a handicap. In 1963, in National League and National Trophy matches Craven, as a 'star grade rider' would start with a twenty yard handicap. However in this challenge match, Peter was actually at the tapes with the other riders but allowed the others to pull away ahead of him to make the racing more exciting. Since 1967, there has been a Peter Craven Memorial meeting held intermittently at the

Belle Vue Stadium Belle Vue Stadium was a greyhound racing track in Belle Vue, Manchester, England, where the first race around an oval track in Britain was held on 24 July 1926. It has also been used for motorcycle speedway, as the home ground of Elite League ...

in honour of his memory. Winners of the Memorial have included World Champions Ivan Mauger (the inaugural winner), Ole Olsen, Peter Collins,

Greg Hancock Gregory Alan Hancock (born June 3, 1970 in Whittier, California) is an American former professional motorcycle speedway rider. As of 2023, he was one of only six riders to have won the individual World Championship four or more times. In addit ...

, Jason Crump and Chris Morton His gravestone stands in West Derby Cemetery in Liverpool.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craven, Peter Theodore 1934 births 1963 deaths British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Individual Speedway World Champions British Speedway Championship winners Motorcycle racers who died while racing Belle Vue Aces riders Fleetwood Flyers riders Liverpool Chads riders Sport deaths in Scotland Sportspeople from Liverpool