Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving usually four riders, who compete over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. A series of heats make up a match or competition.
The motorcycles are specialist bikes which use only one gear and have no brakes.
A type of speedway motorcycle racing, or dirt-track racing was practiced in the USA before the First World War and in Australia in the late 1910s and early 1920s.
The first organized speedway was created at Maitland, New South Wales, Australia on December 15, 1923 when New Zealand-born rider "Johnny" S. Hoskins organised a sports charity carnival called the Electric Light Carnival, staged on the Maitland Showground. Hoskins suddenly realized that there was a gap in the program of events and a couple of young, local motorcyclists told him that they were prepared to fill the gap by racing around the show ground's grassy track. However, they found that the surface was much too slippery and caused their bikes to skid dangerously, so the cyclists covered a nearby slag-heap with a coat of cinders and all was ready for the world's first dirt-track race on a short circuit.
Hoskins quickly realised at once the great potential of the new sport and ran speedway at Maitland for two years before moving on to Newcastle in New South Wales.
The first permanent dirt-track was laid in 1926 at the Sydney Show Ground. Hoskins promoted speedway during the first season of racing there in 1926–1927, but a very wet summer made the venture a flop and almost bankrupted him. Hoskins then moved on to Western Australia, where he was more successful.
The first Australian Individual Speedway Championship was held at the Newcastle Showgrounds and was won by American rider Cec Brown. It is the oldest continuously running national speedway championship in the world having been run since 1926 with the exception of 1942–1945 when racing was suspended during World War II, and 1955–1961 when the championship was not held.
In the 1928/29 season at the Melbourne Exhibition Speedway, Australian Colin Stewart won the prestigious Silver Gauntlet, which required the rider to win the feature race 10 times in one season. He won it 12 times in total.
In 1928 Hoskins himself and A. J. Hunting, a Queenslander, went to England with their teams to establish the sport there and became its successful promoters.
The first speedway meeting in the UK to feature bikes with no brakes and broadsiding round corners on loose dirt was the third meeting held at High Beech, a village inside Epping Forest on April 9, 1928, where Colin Watson, Alf Medcalf and "Digger" Pugh demonstrated the art. Two Australians Billy Galloway and Keith McKay there to promote the sport also featured.
A crowd of 5,000 watched the first ever organised speedway meeting in Britain at Celtic Park, Glasgow on April 28 1928. Celtic Park was used 12 times as a speedway venue from April to late July 1928.
The world's first dirt-track championship was held in Wembley, London, in 1936, and was won by Van Praag, the "master of the cinders," in the presence of 75,000 spectators.
The first speedway meetings in Poland were held in the 1930s and league racing began in 1948. Speedway is one of the most popular sports in Poland and The Polish Extraleague has the highest average attendances for any sport in the country.
Source Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999. Published by Webster
The motorcycles are specialist bikes which use only one gear and have no brakes.
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| Finnish speedwayriders in Speedway Extraliiga competition. By kallerna |
A type of speedway motorcycle racing, or dirt-track racing was practiced in the USA before the First World War and in Australia in the late 1910s and early 1920s.
The first organized speedway was created at Maitland, New South Wales, Australia on December 15, 1923 when New Zealand-born rider "Johnny" S. Hoskins organised a sports charity carnival called the Electric Light Carnival, staged on the Maitland Showground. Hoskins suddenly realized that there was a gap in the program of events and a couple of young, local motorcyclists told him that they were prepared to fill the gap by racing around the show ground's grassy track. However, they found that the surface was much too slippery and caused their bikes to skid dangerously, so the cyclists covered a nearby slag-heap with a coat of cinders and all was ready for the world's first dirt-track race on a short circuit.
Hoskins quickly realised at once the great potential of the new sport and ran speedway at Maitland for two years before moving on to Newcastle in New South Wales.
The first permanent dirt-track was laid in 1926 at the Sydney Show Ground. Hoskins promoted speedway during the first season of racing there in 1926–1927, but a very wet summer made the venture a flop and almost bankrupted him. Hoskins then moved on to Western Australia, where he was more successful.
The first Australian Individual Speedway Championship was held at the Newcastle Showgrounds and was won by American rider Cec Brown. It is the oldest continuously running national speedway championship in the world having been run since 1926 with the exception of 1942–1945 when racing was suspended during World War II, and 1955–1961 when the championship was not held.
In the 1928/29 season at the Melbourne Exhibition Speedway, Australian Colin Stewart won the prestigious Silver Gauntlet, which required the rider to win the feature race 10 times in one season. He won it 12 times in total.
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| Col Stewart races his speedway motorcycle . Photo taken 1930. Wikipedia |
In 1928 Hoskins himself and A. J. Hunting, a Queenslander, went to England with their teams to establish the sport there and became its successful promoters.
The first speedway meeting in the UK to feature bikes with no brakes and broadsiding round corners on loose dirt was the third meeting held at High Beech, a village inside Epping Forest on April 9, 1928, where Colin Watson, Alf Medcalf and "Digger" Pugh demonstrated the art. Two Australians Billy Galloway and Keith McKay there to promote the sport also featured.
A crowd of 5,000 watched the first ever organised speedway meeting in Britain at Celtic Park, Glasgow on April 28 1928. Celtic Park was used 12 times as a speedway venue from April to late July 1928.
The world's first dirt-track championship was held in Wembley, London, in 1936, and was won by Van Praag, the "master of the cinders," in the presence of 75,000 spectators.
The first speedway meetings in Poland were held in the 1930s and league racing began in 1948. Speedway is one of the most popular sports in Poland and The Polish Extraleague has the highest average attendances for any sport in the country.
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| Łukasz Sówka, speedway rider from Poland.By Wisniowy |
Source Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999. Published by Webster
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