Hackney Hawks

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Club Information
Hackney Hawks

Track Address	Hackney Wick Stadium Waterden Road Hackney London
Country	England
Founded	1963
Closed	1983
League	British league
Website	www.hackneyhawks.co.uk
Club Facts
Colours	Yellow Hawk on Blue and White Check
Track size	345 yards
Major Team Honours
British League KO Cup Winners	1971

Hackney Hawks speedway opened in 1963 at Hackney Wick Stadium, Waterden Road, London and operated until 1983.

1 Early days
2 Vic Harding
3 Closure
4 Notable Hackney Riders
5 See also
6 External links
7 References

[edit] Early days

Originally opened by Mike Parker, the promotion was then sold to Len Silver who was the club's promoter for the next twenty seasons.^[1] The riders and track staff marched onto the track to the sound of the theme tune of the film The Magnificent Seven and that tune inspires more memories for Hackney Hawks fans than anything else. The Hawks were closely linked with sister track the Rayleigh Rockets and latterly the Rye House Rockets.^[2]

The track produced superb racing and was always entertaining. In 1971 Hackney won their only major honour when the they beat Cradley Heath Heathens to win the Knockout Cup.

[edit] Vic Harding

Sadly in June 1979, another popular Hawk, Vic Harding, was killed whilst racing for the team. A Vic Harding Memorial Trophy meeting was held in his memory every season after his death, and was in fact the final meeting that Len Silver ran at Waterden Road in 1983.

[edit] Closure

In 1984 the promotion was sold and the promotion from Crayford moved their Kestrels team into the stadium and became known as the Hackney Kestrels.^[3]