Robert Henry Sharp (17 February 1934 – 12 September 2012) was an Australian

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider. He was twice champion of Australia in 1962 and 1965 and earned 13 international caps for the Australia national speedway team.

Biography

Sharp, born in

Arcadia, New South Wales Arcadia is a semi-rural suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 42 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government area of Hornsby Shire. History Arcadia i ...

, began his British leagues career riding for Glasgow Tigers during the 1952 Speedway National League Division Two season. He won the Scottish novices Championship in September 1952. He spent two full seasons with Glasgow but in 1954 was forced to find a new club following Glasgow's withdrawal from the league campaign. He switched to Ipswich Witches and began to build on his previous seasons averages, recording 6.38 for the 1954 season. He came to prominence in 1956 after recording an 8.93 average for Ipswich. However, following a disappointing 1958 campaign he returned to ride in Australia. He became the Australian champion after winning the Australian Solo Championship in 1962 and New South Wales champion in 1964. He won a second Australian title in 1965.

References

1934 births 2012 deaths Australian speedway riders Glasgow Tigers riders Australian expatriate speedway riders in Scotland Ipswich Witches riders Sportsmen from New South Wales Motorcycle racers from Sydney Australian expatriate speedway riders in England 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{motorcycle-speedway-stub