| Sport | Speedway |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1928 |
| Country | Scotland |
The Scottish Open Championship is a motorcycle speedway championship held annually in Scotland. [1] [2]
The Championship has been run almost every year since 1928. That inaugural year saw two events, one for 350 cc bikes and another for 500 cc bikes. From 1929 the event was only open to those riding the 500 cc bikes.
Run as the Scottish Championship from 1928-1945, it became the Scottish Riders Championship from 1949-1954 before a third and final name change in 1960 to the Scottish Open Championship.
Since 1988, the winner of the Scottish Open has been presented with the Jack Young Memorial Trophy in honour of the three time winner and former Edinburgh Monarchs rider from Australia who won the Speedway World Championship in 1951 and 1952. Young won the World Championship in 1951 while riding for the Monarchs, thus becoming the first second division rider to win the World crown. Young died from Emphysema in his home town of Adelaide, South Australia on 28 August 1987.
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply 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 that 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).
Motorcycle Grasstrack is a form of track racing which typically, in its current form, takes place on a flat track consisting of two straights and two bends usually constructed in a field. It is one of the oldest types of motorcycle sports in the UK with the first meetings having taken place in the 1920s.
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.
Jason Philip Crump is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Australia. He is a three-time Speedway World Champion, a World Cup winner and a former World Under-21 Champion.
Kelvin Carruthers is an Australian former world champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and racing team manager. After his motorcycle riding career, he became race team manager for world championship winning riders Kenny Roberts and Eddie Lawson.
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.
The Edinburgh Monarchs are a Scottish Speedway team, currently based in Armadale. They compete in the SGB Championship, racing on Friday nights during the speedway season. The club is run by a board of directors, chaired by Alex Harkess. The club also runs a National Development League team called the Monarchs Academy.
The sport of speedway in the United Kingdom has changed little since the first meetings in the 1920s. It has three domestic leagues, its own Speedway Grand Prix, and an annual entry into the Speedway World Cup / Speedway of Nations.
Jack Ellis Young was a Motorcycle speedway rider who won the Speedway World Championship in 1951 and 1952. He also won the London Riders' Championship 1953 and 1954 and was a nine time South Australian Champion between 1948 and 1964.
Robert Ksiezak is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Australia.
The 1951 Individual Speedway World Championship was the sixth edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.
Justin Maxwell Sedgmen is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider.
Mark Fiora is a former Australian international motorcycle speedway rider. He is a four time South Australian Champion, and winner of the Australian Best Pairs championship in 1988 with Craig Hodgson. Fiora also rode for 13 different teams in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1988.
Samuel Peter Masters is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider who won the Premier League Riders' Championship in 2011. Masters is an Australian Champion having won the Championship in January 2017.
Robert Pearson Harkins is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Scotland.
Max Fricke is an Australian speedway rider. He is a World team champion, twice Australian champion and four times Australian Under-21 Champion.
The Sidewinders Speedway is a junior Motorcycle speedway that was opened in 1978 in the semi-industrial Adelaide suburb of Wingfield in South Australia. The Sidewinders U/16 Speedway Club Inc. was founded two years earlier in 1976 by Graham Baker and Roy Bitmead, with help from Rowley Park Speedway riders Robin and Kym Amundson, and their father Bill. As it was then, Sidewinders goal is to promote and develop speedway through its junior ranks with riders aged 4–15, something that had rarely been done in Australia to that point. Once a rider turns 16 he or she then move into the senior ranks.
Brian John Collins is a former motorcycle speedway rider.
Aaron Richard Summers is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Australia.
Maxwell Ruml is a Motorcycle speedway rider from the United States.
