Long Eaton Speedway | |||||||
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Club information | |||||||
Track address | Long Eaton Stadium Station Road Long Eaton Derbyshire | ||||||
Country | England | ||||||
Founded | 1950 | ||||||
Closed | 1997 (revived 2011–2016) | ||||||
Club facts | |||||||
Colours | Red, white and blue | ||||||
Track size | 336 metres (367 yd) | ||||||
Major team honours | |||||||
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Long Eaton motorcycle speedway teams operated from 1950 until 1997 in Long Eaton, England. Teams have raced at the Long Eaton Stadium as the Long Eaton Archers, Long Eaton Rangers, Nottingham Outlaws and the Long Eaton Invaders. The Invaders returned in 2011, with home meetings taking place at the Leicester Lions' track.
Speedway events had been hosted at Long Eaton from as early as 1929, the first meeting being on 18 May 1929. The team were founder members of the 1929 Speedway English Dirt Track League but withdrew and had their results expunged. [1] The Derby Evening Telegraph described the oval circuit as having four laps to the mile, with straights 35 ft wide (11 m) and the bends 50 ft wide (15 m) 'to allow broadsiding at 60 mph'. The last meeting of this era was on 10 June 1930. [2] [3] [4]
Speedway events returned to Long Eaton in 1950 with a team initially called the "Archers". The team operated until 1953 when the promotion closed. The "Archers" name was again used when the track re-opened in 1963 [5] until it closed again at the end of the 1967 season. [6] In 1969 the track re-opened with the team named "Rangers" until 1974 when the "Archers" name was used for one more season. The track opened again in 1979 and were called the "Nottingham Outlaws" but closed at the end of the 1980 season. [7]
Another revival followed in 1982 as the team was again re-branded, but this time as the "Long Eaton Invaders" – the name was chosen due to the popularity of the Space Invaders arcade game at that time. [7] The Invaders won the National League Championship in 1984 and the Premier League Four-Team Championship in 1997. In early 1998 it was announced that the stadium was to be sold for housing development and the club would have to vacate immediately. The proposed development never took place, and there was an unsuccessful attempt to reopen the site for speedway racing in 2005. [8]
The site was later approved for a residential development with public open spaces by Erewash Borough Council, and is now a housing estate. [9]
The Long Eaton Invaders returned in 2011, competing in the amateur status Midland League, sharing the Leicester Lions' new track in Beaumont Park Stadium for home matches. They ended the 2011 season as Midland League champions. [10] They continued to compete in the junior leagues until 2016.
Long Eaton is a town in the Erewash district of Derbyshire, England, just north of the River Trent, about 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Nottingham and 8.5 miles (13.7 km) south-east of Derby. The town population was 37,760 at the 2011 census. It has been part of Erewash borough since 1 April 1974, when Long Eaton Urban District was disbanded.
Long Eaton railway station serves the town of Long Eaton in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line and the Derby-Nottingham line 120 miles 28 chains (193.7 km) north of London St Pancras. The station is managed by East Midlands Railway, but CrossCountry operates some services.
The Erewash Valley Line is a railway line in England, running from Long Eaton, located between Nottingham and Derby, and Clay Cross, near Chesterfield. The southern part was opened by the Midland Railway in 1847 as far as Codnor Park, where it connected to established ironworks, and soon after, a line to Pinxton and Mansfield.
Trent railway station was situated near Long Eaton in Derbyshire at the junction of the Midland Railway line from London to Derby and Nottingham. It was unusual in that it did not serve any community, being simply an interchange.
Leicester Lions are a speedway team which originally operated from 1968 until 1983. The club returned to speedway for the 2011 Premier League season, moving up to the Elite League for the 2014 season. Before the 2019 season, the club dropped down to the SGB Championship before returning to the Premiership in 2023.
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.
John Robert Vickers (Ken) McKinlay was an international motorcycle speedway rider, captaining Scotland, England, Great Britain and Europe teams. He also finished on the rostrum of the British Speedway Championship finals twice, second in 1964 and third in 1965. His nickname Hurri-Ken was given to him by famous speedway promoter Johnnie Hoskins.
Ivor John Brown was a motorcycle speedway rider from England. He was the captain of Cradley Heathens speedway team during the 1960s. After retiring from riding he became promoter of Long Eaton and Scunthorpe speedway. His off-track occupation was postmaster and grocer of the village General Stores in Wymeswold.
Dennis Clifford 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.
John Boulger is a former international motorcycle speedway rider. Boulger won a record nine South Australian Championships, as well as two Australian Solo Championships during his career. As part of the Australian team, Boulger won the 1976 World Team Cup as captain.
Long Eaton Stadium, previously the Recreation Ground, was a multi-use sports ground in Long Eaton, Derbyshire that staged cricket, cycling, football, greyhound racing and speedway.
Brandon Stadium, also known as Coventry Stadium, is located 6 miles east of Coventry in Brandon, Warwickshire, England. It was the home of the Coventry Bees motorcycle speedway team. It also hosted BriSCA F1 Stock Car Racing on the 1st Saturday of the month from April through to November. From 1978 until early 2016 it intermittently hosted greyhound racing. As of 2023, it is closed and has become dilapidated after several fires, including an arson attack in 2022.
Horace Albert Burke, better known under the alias Paddy Mills, was a motorcycle speedway rider whose career spanned World War II.
Leicester Stadium was a sports stadium on Parker Drive in Leicester. The stadium was initially used for greyhound racing with motorcycle speedway starting there five years later. It was also a venue for BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars.
Motorcycle speedway was first staged in Leicester in 1928. It has continued on and off until the present day, with Leicester Lions currently competing in the SGB Championship and Leicester Lion Cubs competing in the National League (speedway)
John James Bond is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England, who rode for Wolverhampton Wolves, Swindon Robins, and Long Eaton Archers.
Wilfred Graham Plant was a British motorcycle speedway rider.
Thomas William Leadbitter was a British scrambles, motorcycle speedway and grasstrack rider. He earned two international caps for the England national speedway team.
The Nottingham speedway team competed in the 1930s, with a home track on Trent Lane, Nottingham.
Lewis William C. Blackbird is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England.