Speedway in Barrow-in-Furness
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Speedway has been promoted in Barrow-in-Furness at a number of venues. In 1930 a number of meetings were held at Holker Street, the home of Barrow A.F.C. the towns football club (Pavey 2004). Racing moved to Little Park, Roose in 1931 but crowd levels were insufficient. Speedway returned to Barrow in 1972 back at Holker Street. The team were initially called the 'Happy Faces' as their sponsor at the time was Duckhams oil with its happy face logo prominently displayed on the teams race jackets. The team were renamed 'Barrow Bombers' for the 1973 and 1974 seasons. Despite good crowds a new home had to be found for the Speedway Team after the end of the 1974 season when problems with ground sharing became insurmountable.
Local business man Cliff Hindle built a new stadium at Park Road and opened half-way through the 1977 season for a short series of open meetings. In 1978 a team was entered under the name Furness Flyers but finished bottom of the National League. Crowds were poor and the track closed after only one season.
Speedway in Barrow was revived under ex-Barrow rider Chris Roynon in 1984. A series of challenge matches were held to gauge public support. Interest was such that a team was entered for the 1985 season under the name of the Barrow Blackhawks. After a disastrous start to the season with an understrength team the Blackhawks were thrown out of the league. A number of challenge matches were held for the remainder of the season in front of low crowds before the track once again closed.
[edit] References
- Pavey,A. (2004) Speedway in the North-West, Tempus Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7524-3192-7
