Rochdale Hornets (speedway)

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Rochdale Hornets
Rochdale Hornets motorcycle speedway logo.jpg
Club information
Track address Athletic Grounds
Milnrow Road
Rochdale
CountryEngland
Founded1928, 1970
Closed1930, 1971
Club facts
Coloursyellow and black
Track size441 yards (403 m)

The Rochdale Hornets were a British speedway team from Rochdale in the north west of England.

Contents

History

Speedway arrived in Rochdale at the Athletic Grounds on 25 August 1928 [1] with a scratch event. It was the inaugural year of the new dirt-track racing sport that had arrived from Australia. [2] The creation of speedway in Rochdale was the brainchild of Alec Dovener but he had to relinquish his interest due to poor health. [3]

The success of the first year led to a large increase of fixtures the following season and a new team simply called Rochdale were founder members of the English Dirt Track League. [4] [5] Racing continued in 1930 until the end of August, [6] when it was decided to go into voluntary liquidation. [7]

Forty years had passed when in 1970, speedway returned to the Athletic Grounds and a team were reformed by the promotion from the Belle Vue Aces. [8] The team known as the Hornets (basically the Belle Vue Colts) would give the junior riders of Belle Vue a chance to progress under the control of Dent Oliver. [9] The Hornets finished in a creditable third place during the 1970 British League Division Two season, with riders Eric Broadbelt and Taffy Owen recording excellent averages. [10]

The track was not a good shape and proved to be unpopular with supporters. The safety fence was unusual in that it was made of steel plates supported on wire ropes. For the 1971 season the Hornets brought in Alan Wilkinson and Peter Collins (a future World Champion). [11] The Hornets finished 9th but at the end of the season they moved on to Ellesmere Port.

Season summary

Year and leaguePositionNotes
1929 Speedway English Dirt Track League 6th
1970 British League Division Two season 3rd
1971 British League Division Two season 9th

Notable riders

References

  1. ↑ "Rochdale Speedway" . Yorkshire Evening Post. 15 August 1928. Retrieved 20 February 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ↑ "1928 season" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  3. ↑ "Mr Alec Dovener" . South Yorkshire Times and Mexborough & Swinton Times. 1 August 1930. Retrieved 20 February 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ↑ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - PRE-WAR ERA (1929-1939)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  5. ↑ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  6. ↑ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN   0-904584-45-3.
  7. ↑ "Riders to Co-operate" . Halifax Evening Courier. 2 August 1930. Retrieved 20 February 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ↑ "Pay rates" . Coventry Evening Telegraph. 1 November 1969. Retrieved 20 February 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ Bamford, R & Jarvis J. (2001). Homes of British Speedway. ISBN   0-7524-2210-3
  10. ↑ "Rider averages 1929 to 2009" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  11. ↑ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN   0-7524-2402-5
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