| Hull Vikings | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club information | |||||||||
| Track address | The Boulevard Stadium and Craven Park Hull | ||||||||
| Country | England | ||||||||
| Founded | 1971 | ||||||||
| Closed | 2005 | ||||||||
| Team manager | Eric Boocock | ||||||||
| Team captain | Paul Thorp | ||||||||
| League | Premier | ||||||||
| Club facts | |||||||||
| Colours | Blue and White | ||||||||
| Track size | 346 metres (378 yd) | ||||||||
| Track record time | 64.4 seconds [1] | ||||||||
| Track record date | 30 June 2004 | ||||||||
| Track record holder | Magnus Karlsson | ||||||||
| Major team honours | |||||||||
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The Hull Vikings were a speedway team from Hull, England, who operated from 1971 to 2005, primarily from The Boulevard (stadium) and Craven Park. [2] [3]
The team originated as the Hull Angels and were based at Hedon Stadium in Hedon on the outskirts of Hull between 1948 and mid-1949. [4] Their inaugural league season was in the 1948 Speedway National League Division Three where they finished 9th. [5] [6] On 27 August 1949, the Angels raced their last match at home to Liverpool Chads and then after one more away match they withdrew from the league to be replaced by Swindon Robins. [7] [8] The speedway promotion applied, without success, to Hull City FC to see if they could use their old Anlaby Road ground. [9]
When speedway came back to Hull for the 1971 British League Division Two season, the team were known as the Vikings and raced at the Boulevard, a 380 metres (420 yards) long track. The Boulevard was famous as the long time home of Rugby Football League team Hull FC. During the years of racing at The Boulevard, the Vikings had the dubious distinction of being the last league speedway team ever to appear at the famous West Ham Stadium, on 23 May 1972, when they beat the closing West Ham Hammers 40–38. The team raced at the Boulevard for 11 seasons [10] and in 1978 they signed the legendary New Zealander Ivan Mauger, a five times world champion at the time. The team finished third in the league during 1978 and then finished second the following season, during the 1979 British League season. [11] The 1979 season also saw Mauger become the world champion for a record sixth time. [12] Promotional changes, falling crowds and financial problems eventually saw the Vikings demise after the 1981 season.
On 5 April 1995, speedway came back to Hull, this time at Craven Park, the home of the city's other rugby league team, Hull Kingston Rovers. [13] The 346 metres (378 yards) long speedway track ran inside the greyhound racing track.
Although the Vikings have raced in speedway's top flight, the Elite League in 1999, it was in the Premier League where they enjoyed the most success, racing to the treble in 2004. By becoming Premier League Champions, holders of the Knockout Cup and the Craven Shield, the team became the most successful sporting team in Hull's history, in terms of awards. However, just one year later, in 2005, the club was forced to close its doors due to a spate of crippling financial problems. Although potential new owners have been mooted, the team remains homeless.
The prospect of speedway returning to Hull would require a new venue to be built as The Boulevard was closed in 2009 and demolished in 2010 while Craven Park was redeveloped after the Vikings departure with the speedway track removed and the ground becoming a rectangular sports venue suited to rugby league.
World Champions who rode for the Vikings in the 1970s included New Zealanders Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs, along with Egon Müller from West Germany who rode a single season in Hull in 1976. While Mauger and Briggs had already won World Championships before joining Hull, Müller would not win the title until 1983, though like Mauger he was a World Long Track Champion having won the title in 1974 and 1975.
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.
Craven Park is a rugby league stadium located in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Hull Kingston Rovers, one of two professional rugby league teams based in the city.
The Boulevard was a multi-purpose stadium in Hull, England. The venue was saved from demolition and reopened on 25 October 2007 as the home of greyhound racing in the city. There were plans for it to be used as a community stadium hosting rugby league matches and speedway, but it eventually closed and was demolished in August 2010.
Peter Theodore Craven was an English motorcycle racer. He was a finalist in each FIM Speedway World Championship from 1954 to 1963 and he won the title twice. He was British Champion in 1962 and 1963.
Newcastle Diamonds were a motorcycle speedway team that raced in the SGB Championship, every Sunday night during the season (March–October) from their home at the Newcastle Stadium on the Fossway, Byker. The Stadium was previously known as Brough Park.
Ivan Gerald Mauger was a New Zealand motorcycle speedway rider. He won a record six World Championships (Finals), a feat equalled only with the inclusion of the Speedway GP Championships by Tony Rickardsson of Sweden who won one World Final and five GP Championships. Mauger rode for several British teams – Wimbledon Dons, Newcastle Diamonds, Belle Vue Aces, Exeter Falcons and the Hull Vikings. In 2010, Mauger was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements.
William Robert Sanders was an Australian international Speedway rider who won six Australian Championships and was a five time Speedway World Championship finalist with a career best second place in West Germany in 1983.
The Swindon Speedway team, also known as the Swindon Robins, are an English motorcycle speedway team established in 1949 that have competed primarily in the top division of speedway league competition in the United Kingdom. They are five times league champions of the United Kingdom.
Barry Briggs is a New Zealand former speedway rider.
Jerzy Szczakiel was a Polish speedway rider. He was one of three Polish nationals to have won the Speedway World Championship, the others being 2010 World champion Tomasz Gollob and the 2019 Speedway Grand Prix winner and 2019 World Champion, Bartosz Zmarzlik.
Ronald Leslie Moore was a New Zealand international motorcycle speedway rider. He twice won the Individual World Speedway Championship, in 1954 and 1959. He earned 13 international caps for the Australia national speedway team, 50 caps for the New Zealand national speedway team and 21 caps for the Great Britain national speedway team.
Eric Henry Boocock is a former motorcycle speedway rider who appeared in three Speedway World Championship finals. He was the joint manager of the Great Britain national speedway team with Colin Pratt.
Raymond Wilson is a former international motorcycle speedway rider who was World Pairs Champion in 1972 and British Speedway Champion in 1973, was also England Team Captain for five years in the early 1970s. He was the first Englishman to record a maximum score in a World Team Cup Final. He earned 72 international caps for the England national speedway team and 36 caps for the Great Britain team.
Nigel Boocock was a motorcycle speedway rider from England. who appeared in eight Speedway World Championship finals. He holds the record number of caps for Great Britain (64) and the record for total number of caps, when including England (154).
Geoffrey Cyril Mardon was a New Zealand motorcycle speedway rider. He rode for the Aldershot Shots, the Wimbledon Dons and the Southampton Saints.
The 1963 Provincial Speedway League was the fourth season of the Provincial League in the United Kingdom. Thirteen speedway teams took part.
James Sydney Airey is an Australian former international motorcycle speedway rider, who rode in the 1971 World Final in Göteborg, Sweden and was a member of the Great Britain team that won the 1971 Speedway World Team Cup. He earned 36 international caps for the Australia national speedway team and 17 caps for Great Britain.
Hyde Road Stadium, in Manchester, England, often referred to as Belle Vue was the home of the Belle Vue Aces speedway team. The stadium's capacity was 40,000 and it was built in 1928 and used until demolished in 1987. It was claimed, incorrectly, to have been the first purpose-built speedway track in Britain.
John Daniel McNeill is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider.
Hedon Stadium was a motorcycle speedway venue between Hedon and Hull, England. The location of the stadium was south of the Hedon Racecourse railway station, which is on the east side of the Staithes Road, about 5 miles from the centre of Hull and 1 mile west of Hedon.
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