Antonín Kasper Sr. (31 October 1932 – 12 November 2017) was an international

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 clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider from Czechoslovakia. He earned 13 international caps for the

Czechoslovakia national speedway team The Czechoslovakia national speedway team were one of the teams that competed in international team motorcycle speedway. History The Czechoslovakian speedway team (which consisted predominantly of Czech Republic riders) competed in the inaugu ...

Speedway career

Kasper Sr. won two medals at the

Speedway World Team Cup The Speedway World Team Cup was an annual motorcycle speedway, speedway event held each year in different countries. The competition started in 1960 and was replaced with the Speedway World Cup in 2001. Format From 1960 until 1985, each team c ...

in 1960 and 1963. He also won the prestigious

Golden Helmet of Pardubice The Golden Helmet of Pardubice (Czech: Zlatá přilba) is a motorcycle speedway competition hosted annually in Pardubice, the Czech Republic. It is the oldest motorcycle speedway race in Europe and is considered prestigious. History The race w ...

in 1963. In 1967, he was part of the Prague team that toured the United Kingdom and 1968, where he starred alongside Antonín Šváb Sr. He rode in the top tier of British Speedway, joining the

Coventry Bees Coventry Bees are a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon, Warwickshire, Brandon near Coventry, England. They are eight times champions of Britain. History Origins and 1920s The firs ...

for the 1968 British League season. He stayed with the Midlands club in 1969 before switching to

West Ham Hammers The West Ham Hammers were a speedway team that raced at West Ham Stadium in London, England, from 1929 to 1971. The team were twice champions of the United Kingdom. History Origins and 1920s Speedway arrived at West Ham in 1928, the ina ...

for the 1970 British League season.

World final appearances

World Team Cup

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 * Janu ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Ullevi Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; the ...

(with

Jaroslav Machač Jaroslav Machač (born 1926) is a former international speedway rider from Czechoslovakia. Speedway career Machač reached the final of the Speedway World Team Cup in the 1960 Speedway World Team Cup. He was champion of Czechoslovakia in 19 ...

František Richter František Richter (27 August 1931 – 27 March 2020) was a Czech international speedway rider. Speedway career Richter reached the final of the inaugural Speedway World Team Cup at the 1960 Speedway World Team Cup, winning a bronze medal. ...

/ Luboš Tomíček Sr. /

Bohumír Bartoněk Bohumír Bartoněk (born 10 May 1939) is a former international Motorcycle speedway, speedway rider from Czechoslovakia. Speedway career Bartoněk reached the 1959 Continental Speedway final as part of the 1959 Individual Speedway World Champ ...

) - 3rd - 15pts (5) *

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...

(with Luboš Tomíček Sr. / Stanislav Svoboda /

) - 4th - 12pts (4) *

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Stadion Wien (with Stanislav Kubíček /

Miroslav Šmíd Miroslav Šmíd (1952, Police nad Metují, Czechoslovakia – 11 September 1993, Lost Arrow, Yosemite National Park, United States, USA) was a Czech Rock climbing, rock climber, Solo climbing, solo climber, mountaineer, mountain cinematographer a ...

/ Luboš Tomíček Sr. - 2nd - 27pts (10) *

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

(with Luboš Tomíček Sr. / Jaroslav Volf / Jan Holub I) - 4th' - 7pts (3)

Individual Ice Speedway World Championship

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

- 2 rounds, 7th - 30pts *

- 2 rounds, 7th - 33pts *

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

Inzell Inzell () is a municipality in the district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany. It is known for the Eisstadion Inzell, an outdoor artificial ice rink that has been used for many international speed skating championships. It is now an indoor oval ...

, 6th - 9pts *

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

Nässjö Nässjö () is a locality and the seat of Nässjö Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 31,782 inhabitants in 2024. History For many years, Nässjö was a rural village with agriculture as the dominant occupation. The turning point wa ...

, 14th - 3pts

Family

His son Antonín Kasper Jr. (1962-2006) was also an international speedway rider.

References

1932 births 2017 deaths Czech speedway riders Czechoslovak speedway riders Coventry Bees riders Czech expatriate speedway riders in England West Ham Hammers riders {{CzechRepublic-speedway-bio-stub