| Nationality | British |
|---|---|
| Career history | |
| 1929-1930 | Leicester Stadium |
John "Slider" Shuttleworth was a British motorcycle speedway rider who rode for the Leicester Stadium team in the early years of the sport.
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines which use only one gear and have no brakes; racing takes place on a flat oval track usually consisting of dirt, loosely packed shale, or crushed rock. Competitors use this surface to slide their machines sideways, powersliding or broadsiding into the bends. On the straight sections of the track the motorcycles reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour (110 km/h).
Leicester Stadium were a motorcycle speedway team which operated from 1929 until 1931.
Shuttleworth rode in some of the earliest speedway races in Britain, including races at Audenshaw in 1928. He was part of the Stadium team in 1929, riding in the English Dirt Track League. [1] In 1930 he only represented the team once, in a challenge match against Nottingham. [1]
Audenshaw is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Tame 1.8 miles (2.9 km) south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and 4.9 miles (7.9 km) east of Manchester. Historically part of Lancashire, in 2011 it had a population of 11,419.
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, England, 128 miles (206 km) north of London, 45 miles (72 km) northeast of Birmingham and 56 miles (90 km) southeast of Manchester, in the East Midlands.
He was known for his practical jokes, one of which was to place a small balloon full of red ink inside his crash helmet, giving the appearance of blood should he fall and bang his head, which he would often do for dramatic effect if he was losing a race. [2] [3]
