Bill Kitchen (speedway rider)
| Bill Kitchen | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nationality |  England | |
| Date of birth | December 7, 1908 | |
| Place of birth | Galgate, England | |
| Date of death | May 1994 (aged 85) | |
| Current club information | ||
| Career status | Retired | |
| Career history | ||
| Belle Vue Aces Wembley Lions |
1933-1939 1946-1954 | |
| Individual honours | ||
| Australian Champion (3 Lap) | 1950 | |
| Team honours | ||
| National League Champion National Trophy Winner A.C.U. Cup Winner British Speedway Cup winner London Cup winner |
1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1948 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937 1939, 1947 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951 | |
| |||||||||||
William (Bill) Kitchen (7 December 1908 in Galgate, Lancashire, England – May 1994) is a former international speedway rider who started his career with the Belle Vue Aces in 1933.[1]
Career summary
Before he started speedway Kitchen was a prominent road trials rider and had taken part in the Isle of Man TT.[2]
His pre-war career was with Belle Vue. In 1946 he became captain of the Wembley Lions and finished second in the British Speedway Championship.[2] He finished fifth in the Speedway World Championship in 1939.[3]
Kitchen was a member of a National League winning team eleven times in twenty years, a feat made even more exceptional given the fact that the outbreak of World War II cost his Belle Vue team the chance of earning Kitchen a twelfth title (the Aces were top of the league when it was abandoned), and the fact that the competition was suspended a further six seasons during the war.
Kitchen was also a regular England international with over forty appearances after the war as well as over thirty pre-war caps.
In 1950, Bill Kitchen won the Australian 3 Lap Championship at the Tracey's Speedway in Melbourne.
After retirement, Bill ran a motor spares shop bearing his own name, in Station Road Harrow until at least the 1980s.
World Final Appearances
- 1937 -
London, Wembley Stadium - 8th - 9pts + 7 semi-final points - 1938 - London, Wembley Stadium - 5th - 9pts + 6 semi-final points
- 1949 - London, Wembley Stadium - 6th - 9pts