1937 Individual Speedway World Championship

1937 Individual Speedway World Championship

Previous

1936

Next

1938

The 1937 Individual Speedway World Championship was the second edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}

An attendance of 85,000 (a record for speedway in the United Kingdom at the time) saw Jack Milne win all five races to head an all USA top three on the podium. The track was criticised and was described as being too deep with cinders. ^[8]

The 1937 Speedway World Final programme.

Qualifying round

• Top 28 riders qualify for Championship round

Date	Venue	Winner
24 May	Wimbledon Stadium	Wilbur Lamoreaux
29 May	Harringay Stadium	Lionel Van Praag
2 June	New Cross Stadium	Jack Parker
5 June	Hyde Road	Eric Langton
18 June	Hackney Wick Stadium	Cordy Milne
22 June	West Ham Stadium	George Newton

Championship round

• The top 16 riders over the 6 qualifying rounds and 7 championship rounds would qualify for the World final.

Date	Venue	Winner
7 July	New Cross Stadium	Jack Milne
10 July	Harringay Stadium	Jack Milne
19 July	Wimbledon Stadium	Jack Milne & Ginger Lees
24 July	Hyde Road	Jack Milne
29 July	Wembley Stadium	Lionel Van Praag & Wilbur Lamoreaux
3 August	West Ham Stadium	Eric Langton
13 August	Hackney Wick Stadium	Arthur Atkinson

Top 16 qualifiers (2 reserves)

Pos. Rider Qual Points c/f 1 Jack Milne 83 13 2 Eric Langton 78 12 3 Wilbur Lamoreaux 74 12 4 Cordy Milne 71 11 5 Eric Chitty 70 11 6 Lionel Van Praag 70 11 7 Jack Parker 69 11 8 George Newton 67 11 9 Frank Charles 64 10 10 Ginger Lees 61 10 11 Frank Varey 51 8 12 Arthur Atkinson 50 8 13 Joe Abbott 49 8 14 Morian Hansen 45 7 15 Bob Harrison 45 7 16 Bill Kitchen 45 7

Pos. Rider Qual Points c/f 17 Tommy Croombs 39 6 18 Alec Statham 39 6 19 Stan Greatrex 38 20 Ron Johnson 37 21 Wally Kilmister 35 22 Dicky Case 34 23 Charlie Spinks 33 24 Cliff Parkinson 31 25 Jack Ormston 30 26 Norman Evans 28 27 Broncho Dixon (res) 25 28 Eric Gregory 24 29 Tiger Stevenson 21 30 Tommy Price (res) 20

World final

• 2 September 1937
• Wembley Stadium, London

Pos.	Rider	c/f Points	Final Points	Final Heats	Total Points
1	Jack Milne	13	15	(3,3,3,3,3)	28
2	Wilbur Lamoreaux	12	13	(3,3,3,1,3)	25
3	Cordy Milne	11	12	(2,3,2,3,2)	23
4	Jack Parker	11	10	(2,3,1,2,2)	21
5	Ginger Lees	10	9	(1,1,2,2,3)	19
6	Frank Charles	10	7	(0,0,1,3,3)	17
7	Lionel Van Praag	11	6	(3,0,-,3,0)	17
8	Bill Kitchen	7	9	(1,2,2,2,2)	16
9	George Newton	11	5	(3,0,0,0,2)	16
10	Eric Langton	12	4	(1,0,0,3,0)	16
11	Morian Hansen	7	8	(1,2,3,1,1)	15
12	Eric Chitty	11	4	(0,2,0,1,1)	15
13	Joe Abbott	8	6	(2,1,1,2,0)	14
14	Arthur Atkinson	8	6	(2,0,2,1,1)	14
15	Frank Varey	8	3	(0,1,1,0,1)	11
16	Tommy Croombs (res)	6	2	(0,2,0,0,0)	8
17	Bob Harrison	7	-	-	7
18	Alec Statham (res)	6	0	(0)	6

References

1. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 20–21. ISBN   0-86215-017-5.
2. "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
3. "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
4. "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
5. "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
6. "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
7. Oakes, Peter (1990). Speedway Yearbook 1990. Front Page Books. p. 13. ISBN   0-948882-15-8.
8. "World Speedway Championship" . Coventry Evening Telegraph. 3 September 1937. Retrieved 5 July 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.