1949 Individual Speedway World Championship

1949 Individual Speedway World Championship

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1950

The 1949 Individual Speedway World Championship was the fourth edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]}

It was the first running of the event since its suspension in 1939, due to World War II. The World final at London's Wembley Stadium, was held in front of a reported 93,000 strong crowd and the Championship was won Tommy Price. ^[7]

First qualifying round

• The top 96 riders qualify for the second qualifying round, where they will be joined by seeded division 2 riders. ^[8]

Date	Venue	Winner
16 May	County Ground Stadium	Jack Mountford
18 May	The Shay	Vic Emms
18 May	The Pilot Field	Paddy Mills
18 May	Tamworth Greyhound Stadium	Basse Hveem
19 May	Pennycross Stadium	Bruce Semmens
19 May	Owlerton Stadium	Andy Menzies
20 May	Leicester Stadium	Charlie May
21 May	Sun Street Stadium	Stan Williams
21 May	Hedon Stadium	Billy Hole
21 May	Rayleigh Weir Stadium	Alan Hunt / Will Lowther

Second qualifying round

• The top 42 riders qualify for the Third qualifying round. ^[8]

Date	Venue	Winner
10 June	Dudley Wood Stadium	Gil Craven
11 June	Brandon Stadium	Ken Le Breton
11 June	Old Meadowbank	Jack Young
11 June	The Firs Stadium	Bob Leverenz
13 June	Knowle Stadium	Fred Tuck
13 June	Walthamstow Stadium	Jim Boyd

Third qualifying round

• The top 2 riders from each meeting qualify for the Championship round, where they will meet 32 seeded division 1 riders. ^[8]

Date	Venue	Winner/2nd
4 July	Brough Park Stadium	Tommy Price / Ray Duggan
5 July	Ashfield Stadium	Ken Le Breton / Freddie Williams
5 July	Banister Court Stadium	Fred Tuck / Roy Craighead
6 July	Highbury Stadium (Fleetwood)	Charles Cullum / Ken Sharples
6 July	White City Stadium, Glasgow	Geoff Bennett / Gil Craven

Championship round

• The top 16 riders qualify for the world final. ^[8]

Date	Venue	Winner
8 August	Wimbledon Stadium	Aub Lawson
10 August	New Cross Stadium	Cyril Roger
22 August	Perry Barr Stadium	Graham Warren
25 August	Wembley Stadium	Wilbur Lamoreaux
27 August	Hyde Road Stadium	Dent Oliver
27 August	Odsal Stadium	Tommy Price
30 August	West Ham Stadium	Cliff Watson
2 September	Harringay Stadium	Dent Oliver

Scores

• Top 16 qualify for World final, 17th & 18th reserves for World final

Pos. Rider Total pts 1 Tommy Price 38 2 Graham Warren 38 3 Dent Oliver 37 4 Aub Lawson 37 5 Bill Gilbert 36 6 Wilbur Lamoreaux 35 7 Lloyd Goffe 34 8 Jack Parker 34 9 Bill Kitchen 33 10 Cyril Roger 31 11 Louis Lawson 30 12 Bill Longley 30 13 Norman Parker 30 14 Ken Le Breton 29 15 Cliff Watson 29 16 Ron Clarke 27 17 Oliver Hart 27 18 Alec Statham 25 19 Cyril Brine 25

Pos. Rider Total pts 20 Malcolm Craven 25 21 Geoff Pymar 23 22 Doug McLachlan 23 23 Geoff Bennett 20 24 Jeff Lloyd 18 25 Mike Erskine 18 26 Ray Duggan 17 27 Charles Cullum 17 28 Eric Chitty 15 29 Split Waterman 15 30 George Wilks 15 31 Eddie Rigg 14 32 Ken Sharples 14 33 Roy Craighead 13 34 Nobby Stock 13 35 Gil Craven 12 36 Jack Biggs 11 37 Bob Harrison 9 38 Stan Dell 2

World final

• 22 September 1949
• Wembley Stadium, London

Pos.	Rider	Points	Heats
1	Tommy Price	15	(3,3,3,3,3)
2	Jack Parker	14	(3,3,3,2,3)
3	Louis Lawson	13	(2,2,3,3,3)
4	Norman Parker	10	(3,3,2,2,0)
5	Wilbur Lamoreaux	9	(2,2,3,0,2)
6	Bill Kitchen	9	(3,1,2,2,1)
7	Ron Clarke	8	(1,0,2,3,2)
8	Aub Lawson	8	(1,3,1,1,2)
9	Bill Longley	8	(1,2,2,1,2)
10	Cyril Roger	7	(2,0,1,1,3)
11	Bill Gilbert	6	(2,1,3,0,0)
12	Graham Warren	5	(0,2,0,2,1)
13	Ken Le Breton	4	(1,0,1,1,1)
14	Lloyd Goffe	2	(0,1,0,0,1)
15	Cliff Watson	1	(0,1,0,0,0)
16	Dent Oliver	0	(0,0,-,-,-)
	Oliver Hart (res)	1	(1,0,0)
	Alec Statham (res)	–	–

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. "Price Wins World Speedway Title For England" . Western Daily Press. 23 September 1949. Retrieved 5 July 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "World Championship" . Hastings and St Leonards Observer. 14 May 1949. Retrieved 2 January 2024– via British Newspaper Archive.