Harringay Racers (speedway)

Last updated

Harringay Racers
Harringay car badge.jpg
Harringay Racers Car Badge
Club information
Track address Harringay Stadium
Green Lanes
Harringay
London
Country England
Founded1947
Closed1954
League National League
Club facts
ColoursBlue and Yellow
Track size333 yards (304 m)
Major team honours
London Cup Winners1953
Anniversary Cup Winners1948
National Trophy Winners1952
Coronation Cup Winners1953

The Harringay Racers were a motorcycle speedway team who raced at the Harringay Stadium from 1947 until 1954 in the National League Division One. [1]

Contents

History

The Racers were the third of three speedway teams to be based at Harringay Stadium. From 1929 to 1931 the Harringay Canaries were based there and later from 1934 to 1939, the team was known as the Harringay Tigers. Racing ceased because of World War II. The stadium reopened on 4 April 1947 at which point the team were revived as the Harringay Racers. [2] [3]

The team finished runner-up in the league in 1948 and 1953. During the 1952 Speedway National League season the team became the National Trophy champions. [4]

Australian Vic Duggan was the top man in the league for a few years. His brother Ray Duggan raced with him until his death in a track accident in Australia. Split Waterman, signed from Wembley, took on the mantle of top scorer. Jack Biggs had a couple of spells with Racers, sandwiching a time at Bradford. [5] The track was used for one-off meetings in 1958, 1960 and 1961.

Although not following their father into motorbike speedway, Wally Lawrence's 3 sons all raced in Cycle Speedway with two of them becoming British champions in the veteran series in recent years.

Notable riders

Season summary

Year and leaguePositionNotes
1947 Speedway National League 7thInaugural season (previously Harringay Tigers)
1948 Speedway National League 2ndAnniversary Cup winners
1949 Speedway National League 6th
1950 Speedway National League 9th
1951 Speedway National League 7th
1952 Speedway National League 3rd National Trophy champions
1953 Speedway National League 2ndLondon Cup & Coronation Cup winners
1954 Speedway National League 6thLast season

Related Research Articles

Harringay Stadium was a major greyhound racing and motorcycle speedway venue in Harringay, north London. It was built and opened in 1927 and closed in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belle Vue Aces</span>

The Belle Vue Aces are a British speedway club, based in Manchester. The club hold the record of having won the top tier League championship 13 times. They currently compete in the SGB Premiership, racing at The National Speedway Stadium, with home matches usually taking place on Monday evenings. They also run a second team in the National Development League, known as the Belle Vue Colts.

The New Cross Rangers were a Speedway team which operated from 1934 until their closure in 1953. They also rode as the New Cross Lambs from 1934 to 1935 and then the New Cross Tamers in 1936. The team were League Champions in 1938 and 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Ham Hammers</span>

The West Ham Hammers were a speedway team, first promoted by Jimmy Baxter in 1929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wembley Lions (speedway)</span>

The Wembley Lions were a motorcycle speedway team which operated from 1929 until their closure in 1971. Their track was located at Wembley Stadium, Wembley Park, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vic Duggan</span> Australian speedway rider

Victor Duggan was a motorcycle speedway racer who won the London Riders' Championship in 1947 whilst with the Harringay Racers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Young (speedway rider)</span> Australian speedway rider

Jack Ellis Young was a Motorcycle speedway rider who won the Speedway World Championship in 1951 and 1952. He also won the London Riders' Championship 1953 and 1954 and was a nine time South Australian Champion between 1948 and 1964.

The Middlesbrough Bears were a British speedway team which operated under various names from 1939 until their closure in 1996.

The Walthamstow Wolves were a speedway team which operated from 1934 and again from 1949 until their closure in 1951.

Jack Parker was an international motorcycle speedway rider who made his debut at the Whitsun meeting at High Beech in 1928. He won the British Riders' Championship in 1949 and finished second in the 1949 World Championship.

Raymond Patrick Duggan was an Australian speedway rider. He first rode in the United Kingdom with the New Cross Lambs. Duggan represented the Australia many times at test level and was the younger brother of five times Australian champion Vic Duggan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristol Bulldogs</span> Motorcycle speedway team

The Bristol Bulldogs were a British motorcycle speedway team based in the Knowle Stadium, Bristol, England from 1928 to 1978.

The 1953 National League Division One was the 19th season of speedway in the United Kingdom and the eighth post-war season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.

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. Many years later the Hackney Hawks and Hackney Kestrels rode at Hackney Wick Stadium.

The St Austell Gulls were a speedway team which operated from 1949 until their closure in 1964 at the Cornish Stadium at Par, St Austell in Cornwall. In 1997 the team rode at the Clay Country Moto Parc until the club finally closed in 2000.

Squire Francis Waterman, better known as Split Waterman, was an English speedway rider who twice finished second in the Speedway World Championship final. Waterman took up speedway while serving in the British Army in Italy and went on to become one of the top riders of the post-war era. He made the headlines again in the late 1960s when he was convicted of gold smuggling and firearms offences.

Alfred Jeffrey Lloyd was a former international speedway rider who qualified for the Speedway World Championship finals three times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Dunton</span>

Dennis Clifford "Danny" Dunton was an English international motorcycle speedway rider and promoter who reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in 1950, achieving 12th place with 5 points. As well as riding, Dunton promoted Peterborough Panthers and co-promoted Oxford Cheetahs, then Oxford Rebels and finally White City Rebels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harringay Tigers (speedway)</span>

The Harringay Tigers were a motorcycle speedway team who raced at the Harringay Stadium from 1934 until 1939 in the National League Division One.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harringay Canaries (Speedway)</span>

The Harringay Canaries were a motorcycle speedway team who raced at the Harringay Stadium from 1929 until 1931 in the Southern League.

References

  1. Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). Homes of British Speedway. ISBN   0-7524-2210-3
  2. Jacobs, N. Speedway in London, ISBN   0-7524-2221-9
  3. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN   0-904584-45-3.
  4. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - PRE-WAR ERA (1929-1939)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  5. "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 13 August 2021.