| Hackney Wick Wolves | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club information | |||||
| Track address | Hackney Wick Stadium Waterden Road Hackney London | ||||
| Country | England | ||||
| Founded | 1935 | ||||
| Closed | 1939 | ||||
| Team captain | Dicky Case Frank Hodgson | ||||
| League | National League | ||||
| Club facts | |||||
| Colours | Black and White (1935-1937) Champagne and Claret (1938-39) | ||||
| Track size | 310 metres (340 yd) | ||||
| Major team honours | |||||
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Hackney Wick Wolves speedway opened in 1935 at Hackney Wick Stadium, Waterden Road, London, and operated until the outbreak of World War II in 1939. [1] Many years later the Hackney Hawks and Hackney Kestrels rode at Hackney Wick Stadium. [2]
The Walthamstow Wolves closed at the end of the 1934 season and the team moved into Hackney Stadium. [3] The first meeting was held on 26 April 1935 although the first official meeting was a week later on 3 May when Hackney lost to the New Cross Lambs in the National League.
On 15 May 1936, Hackney rider Dusty Haigh died from a broken skull in a crash at the track after falling whilst in the lead and being struck by another rider's machine. [4]
Captain Dicky Case qualified for the first ever Speedway World Championship final at Wembley in 1936, [5] but decided to retire at the end of the 1937 season.
Crowds were not large enough to support top level speedway so, in 1938, Hackney swapped licences with the Bristol Bulldogs and dropped down to the second tier. [4] This meant the big name stars at the Wick went too. However, the Wolves won the 1938 Speedway National League Division Two that season. [6] [7]
Hackney stadium did not host speedway again immediately after the Second World War until 1963 when the Hackney Hawks were founded. [8]
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Hackney Hawks speedway opened in 1963 at Hackney Wick Stadium, Waterden Road, London and operated until 1983. The team replaced the Hackney Wick Wolves who had raced at the stadium from 1935 to 1939. The Hawks were then themselves replaced by the Hackney Kestrels.
Mark Roysten Gregory Loram is a former British motorcycle speedway rider who won the World Speedway Championship in 2000 and won the British Championship in 1997, 1999, and 2001.
Len Silver is a former speedway rider and is former promoter of the Rye House Rockets.
John Walter Milne was an international Speedway rider. He became the first American to win a motorcycling world championship when he won the Speedway World Championship in 1937. Milne finished as runner-up in the World Championship in 1938.
Malcolm Simmons was a British speedway rider.
Colin George Pratt was a British motorcycle speedway rider and later promoter of the Coventry Bees who compete in the British Elite League.
The London Lions were a motorcycle speedway team that operated for one season during the 1996 Premier League speedway season from the Hackney Wick Stadium, the former home of the Hackney Hawks and the Hackney Kestrels.
Finn Thomsen is a former motorcycle speedway rider
Bo Petersen is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Denmark. He was the 1980 Danish champion.
The Hackney Kestrels were a Speedway team which operated from 1984, when the Crayford Kestrels transferred the promotion to Hackney, until their closure in 1990.
The Walthamstow Wolves were a speedway team which operated from 1934 and again from 1949 until their closure in 1951.
Jens Henning Fisker Hansen, known popularly as Morian Hansen, was a former motorcycle speedway rider from Denmark who rode in the first ever Speedway World Championship Final in 1936.
Christer Löfqvist was an international speedway rider who reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in 1974.
Andrzej Huszcza(listen) is a Polish former international motorcycle speedway rider who was a reserve in the 1988 World Final in Vojens, Denmark.
Dag Lövaas is a former international motorcycle speedway rider, who reached the finals of the Speedway World Championship in 1974. His brother Ulf was also a speedway rider.
Corydon Clark Milne was an American international motorcycle speedway rider who finished third in the 1937 Speedway World Championship final, behind his brother Jack and second placed Wilbur Lamoreaux. Corydon rose under the name Cordy Milne and all three riders came from Pasadena, California.
Roy George Arthur 'Dicky' Case was an Australian international speedway rider who finished sixth in the 1936 Speedway World Championship, the first ever final.
John Patrick "Joe" Abbott was an international motorcycle speedway rider who rode in the World Championship final in 1937.
Geoffrey Pymar was an international motorcycle speedway rider who rode in the World Championship final in 1938.
The 1938 National League Division Two was the inaugural season of British speedway's National League Division Two albeit a continuation of the Provincial League from the previous season in all but name.
