Ken McKinlay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal Information
Ken McKinlay

Nationality	Scotland
Date of birth	1928
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Date of death	9 February 2003
Nickname	Hurri-Ken
Current Club Information
British League	-
Career History
Glasgow Tigers Leicester Lions Coventry Bees West Ham Hammers Oxford Cheetahs Scunthorpe Saints		1949-1954 1954-1961 1962-1964, 1970 1965-1969 1971-1972 1973-1975
Individual Honours
Midland Riders Champion	1956, 1957, 1959
Team Honours
British League Champions British League KO Cup Winners London KO Cup Winners	1965 1965 1965

John Robert Vickers (Ken) McKinlay (born 1928 Scotland - died 9 February 2003 Leicester, England) was an international speedway rider, captaining Scotland, England, Great Britain and Europe teams. He also finished on the rostrum of the British Speedway Championship finals twice, second in 1964 and third in 1965. His nickname Hurri-Ken was given to him by famous speedway promoter Johnnie Hoskins.

1 Career summary
2 World Final Appearances
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Career summary

He started his career with the Glasgow Tigers in 1949 and had five successful seasons there. However in 1954 the track closed and Ken transferred to the Leicester Hunters . A spell with the Coventry Bees followed after Leicester dropped down to the Provincial League.

When the British League was formed in 1965 Ken was allocated to the West Ham Hammers, and as captain led them to winning the 1965 treble of League Championship, KO Cup and London KO Cup trophies. He was renowned for his team-riding with younger riders and his contribution throughout his five season with the Hammers was immeasurable.

1970 saw him return to the Coventry Bees for one season before he moved to the Oxford Cheetahs for a further two seasons. Ken considered retirement but in 1973 he was approached by the management of the Scunthorpe Saints to become rider/coach of the second division side. He stayed with the Saints for three seasons before retiring in 1975 aged forty-seven.

Ken had two short spells as team managers of Scunthorpe and Long Eaton. Ken died in 2003 aged seventy-five.