Speedway in the United Kingdom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Main article: Motorcycle speedway

The sport of Speedway in the United Kingdom has changed little since the first meetings in the 1920s. With three domestic leagues, its own Speedway Grand Prix and an annual entry into the Speedway World Cup it remains one of the popular motorsports in the Country.

Contents

[edit] History

The first meeting in the UK is generally acknowledged to have taken place at High Beech on 19 February 1928. There are, however, also claims to have held meetings in 1927 from Camberley in Surrey and Droylesden in Manchester. Despite being described as 'the first British Dirt Track meeting' at the time, the meeting at Camberley on 7 May 1927 differed in that the races were held in a clockwise direction. Races at Droylesden were held in an anti-clockwise direction and this meeting appears to have a strong claim to be the first Speedway meeting in the UK, but it is generally accepted that the sport properly arrived in the UK when Australians Billy Galloway and Keith McKay arrived with the intention of introducing Speedway to the Northern Hemisphere. Both featured in the 1928 High Beech meeting.

[edit] Governing body

The British Speedway Promoters Association (BSPA), part of the Auto-Cycle Union who oversee all forms of track racing, govern the domestic leagues in the United Kingdom. International events are directly governed by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM).

[edit] Competitions

The highest domestic league
The intermediate domestic league
The lowest domestic league
One of the Speedway Grand Prix, the first Grand Prix of Great Britain was held in 1995.

[edit] The national team

Every year the BSPA nominate five British riders to take part in the Speedway World Cup. The definition of British in this case is any rider holding a British Passport.[1]

[edit] Popularity

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ SWC Rules & Regulations. FIM Speedway World Cup. Benfield Sports International. Retrieved on 2007-02-06.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/p/e/Speedway_in_the_United_Kingdom_b8e5.html"