Richard May (speedway rider)

Last updated

Richard May
Richard May.jpg
Richard May, speedway rider.
Born(1944-05-08)8 May 1944
Southampton, England
Career history
1969–1973, 1975 Reading Racers
1974, 1976–1977 Poole Pirates
Team honours
1973 British League
1972Spring Gold Cup

Charles Richard May (born 8 May 1944 in Southampton, England) was a motorcycle speedway rider that rode for Reading Racers and Poole Pirates between 1969 and 1977. [1]

Career

"Dickie" May was the Southern Centre 350cc Solo Grasstrack champion in 1967. [2] [3] In 1970 he was part of the Young England side that faced a Young Sweden side in the Division 2 Test Series tour [4] [5] In 1971 he won the Golden Helmet from Ken McKinlay. [6]

May joined Reading Racers in 1969 and spent five seasons with them, [7] culminating in winning the 1973 British League, along with regular riders Anders Michanek, Dag Lövaas, Geoff Curtis, Mick Bell and Bernie Leigh. [8] [9] He also rode for Poole Pirates. [10] While riding for the Pirates he competed in the preliminary round of the British Qualifiers of the 1974 Individual Speedway World Championship and was the leading bonus point scorer that year for Poole. [11]

Speedway writer Arnie Gibbons (author of Tears and Glory ISBN   9780955845505) wrote in the Speedway Plus article "We had Joy, We Had Fun" that after a meet on 5 October 1970, May had become his first speedway hero after scoring a 12 point full maximum which helped the Reading Racers beat Eastbourne. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Harris (speedway rider)</span> British speedway rider

Christopher Calvin Harris from Truro, Cornwall, nicknamed Bomber, is a Great Britain international motorcycle speedway rider from England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Screen</span> British international motorcycle speedway rider

Joseph Screen, is a former British international motorcycle speedway rider. His major speedway honours include winning the World Under-21 Championship in 1993, the British Championship in 1996 and 2004, and the British League Riders' Championship in 1992. He earned 37 international caps for the England national speedway team and 7 caps for the Great Britain team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krzysztof Buczkowski</span> Polish speedway rider

Krzysztof Buczkowski is a motorcycle speedway rider from Poland. He earned one international cap for the Poland speedway team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Davis (speedway rider)</span> British motorcycle speedway rider

John Henry Davis is a former international motorcycle speedway rider who represented England, when they won the World Team Cup in 1977 and 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Morris (speedway rider)</span> Retired British motorcycle speedway rider

Phillip William Morris is a retired British motorcycle speedway rider. He was the former Team GB Under 21 team manager. He was also the team manager of the Birmingham Brummies for two seasons.

Thomas William Leadbitter was a British scrambles, motorcycle speedway and grasstrack rider. He earned two international caps for the England national speedway team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle Howarth</span> British speedway rider (born 1994)

Kyle Howarth is a British motorcycle speedway rider.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piotr Pawlicki Jr.</span> Polish speedway rider (born 1994)

Piotr Pawlicki is a Polish speedway rider.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Perry (speedway rider)</span> British speedway and grasstrack rider (born 1993)

Thomas Andrew Perry is a British speedway and grasstrack rider.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle Newman (speedway rider)</span> English speedway rider

Kyle Newman is an English motorcycle speedway rider.

Alfred Joseph Hagon is an English former motorcycle speedway rider who later competed in Grasstrack. He manufactured off-road competition frames, forks and other components, later developing into the production of shock absorbers, specialising in modern-replicas of the traditional Girlings used as original equipment and replacements for historic motorcycles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellis Perks</span> British speedway rider (born 1997)

Ellis George Perks is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England. In 2019, he became the first ever rider to win all three tiers of the British Speedway leagues in the same season; the Premiership, Championship and National League.

Steven Schofield (born 27 February 1958) is a British former motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in speedway, longtrack and grasstrack Racing. He earned 12 international caps for the England national speedway team.

Václav Verner was an international speedway rider. He earned 42 international caps for the Czechoslovakia national speedway team.

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

Jack Holder is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider. Jack is a World team champion and his brother Chris Holder is a former World individual champion.

Andy Ross (1940-2006) was an international speedway rider from Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Pusey (speedway rider)</span> British motorcycle speedway rider

Christopher Frederick Pusey was an international motorcycle speedway rider from England. He earned 51 international caps for the England national speedway team.

Raymond Paul Morton is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from England. He earned one international cap for the England national speedway team.

Gary Karl Allan is a British born former international speedway rider from New Zealand. He earned two caps for the New Zealand national speedway team.

Philippe Bergé is a French former motorcycle speedway rider, who competed in Grasstrack, Longtrack and Speedway. He is a former champion of France and earned 3 caps for the France national speedway team.

References

  1. "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  2. "Southern Centre Championships (350cc) - Grasstrack GB" . Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  3. "My motorbike was used by speedway hero - get reading" . Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  4. "A Tribute To Tommy Jansson His Race Heat Details For Great Britain - Robert Browne" (PDF). Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  5. "Young England v Young Sweden 27 July 1970 - defunctspeedway.co.uk" . Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  6. Gibbons.A Tears and Glory ISBN   9780955845505
  7. "Speedway stars at touring centre" . Reading Evening Post. 7 September 1972. Retrieved 28 September 2024 via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "Speedway Star Clark.R p.14 March 2015" . Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  9. "Season 1973 - Speedwaygb.co.uk" (PDF). Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  10. Lawson, K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. ISBN   978-0-244-72538-9
  11. "All Time Points Scorers - poole speedway" . Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  12. "We had Joy, We had Fun by Gibbons, A. - Speedwayplus.com" . Retrieved 31 October 2018.