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Jock Shead
John Shead (22 February 1926 – 1 July 1950) was a motorcycle speedway rider from England. During his speedway career he rode as Jock Shead. Biography Shead, born in Burnley, began his British leagues career riding for Odsal Boomerangs during the 1947 Speedway National League season. He did not ride in many matches during his novice season and was involved in a crash in September, when he hit the safety fence and somersaulted, escaping with minor injuries. The following season he began to ride regularly for Odsal but only achieved a 2.78 average. Shead joined the Halifax Dukes shortly after the start of the 1949 season and improved to a 6.38 average and started to perform consistently for his team. He started 1950 in fine fashion, averaging 8.40 for Halifax and was now a heat leader for the club. However, on 1 July 1950, British speedway experienced arguably its worst night in history following the death of two riders on the same night. Shead was riding for Halifax Dukes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odsal Boomerangs
The Bradford Dukes were a British motorcycle speedway team which operated primarily from the Odsal Stadium in Odsal, Bradford until their closure in 1997.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. The Bradford speedway team previously raced at Odsal Stadium under various other names Odsal Boomerangs, Odsal Tudors, Bradford Tudors, Bradford Panthers, Bradford Northern, Bradford Barons and finally Bradford Dukes. History Origins, 1940s & Boomerangs During 1939, Bradford Northern Rugby league club's Harry Hornby and the local MP H Hepworth investigated the possibility of introducing speedway racing in Odsal, but the outbreak of World War II put an end to their plans. However, in 1945 Hornby joined together with Johnnie Hoskins, to reactive the plans and on 23 June 1945 before a crowd of over 20,000 the Lord Mayor, Alderman Cecil Barnett, officially opened the track. The first season was a series of open and challenge meetings before league racing was introd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halifax Dukes
The Halifax Dukes were a speedway team which operated from 1949–1951 and again from 1965 until their closure in 1985 at The Shay Stadium in Halifax. The team were nicknamed the "Dukes" after the local Duke of Wellington's Regiment, whose training depot, Wellesley Barracks, was in Halifax, and used the Regiments elephant symbol on their race jacket.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. History Origins Speedway in Halifax began with a team called Halifax Speedway, who operated out of Thrum Hall between 1928 and 1930. Another team called Halifax Nomads operated racing a few away fixtures in 1948. 1949 to 1952 At the end of the 1948 season Bruce Booth had replaced Johnnie Hoskins on the board of directors at Odsal Boomerangs and in early 1949 he took control of the new Halifax venture, bringing in Eric Langton as technical director. On 8 February 1949 construction began on a new speedway track at The Shay. The team enjoyed good support ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
