Carl Glover (born 11 October 1952) is a former

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 from England. He earned one international cap for the

England national speedway team The Great Britain national speedway team (formerly the England speedway team) is one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway. The team is managed by former Great Britain riders Oliver Allen and Simon Stead, and captained by th ...

and later managed the national team in 1984.

Biography

Born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, Glover worked as a baker before taking up speedway in 1969 on

Mablethorpe Mablethorpe is a seaside town in the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sutton, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.OS Explorer map 283:Louth and Mablethorpe: (1:25 000): In 1961 the civil parish had a population of 3,611. On 1 Ap ...

sands.Oakes, Peter & Mauger, Ivan (1976) ''Who's Who of World Speedway'', Studio Publications, , p. 49-50 After riding in second half races at Sheffield in 1970, he made his league debut the following year with

Boston Barracudas The Boston Barracudas were a Motorcycle speedway, speedway team that competed from 1970 to 1987 and again from 2000 to 2008. the team were based at Boston Sports Stadium in New Hammond Beck Road, Boston, Lincolnshire. History Origins and 19 ...

in the

British League Division Two The British League Division Two was created in 1968 and was the second tier of motorcycle speedway, speedway racing in the United Kingdom until the restructuring of British speedway in 1995. It was renamed the New National League in 1975 and the Na ...

averaging In ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by how many nu ...

over seven points from 36 matches. Three further seasons with Boston followed, and in the 1973 season he averaged 9.62, scoring six full maximum and seven paid maximum scores on his way to winning the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

and

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

double. He improved further in 1974, averaging 10.29, with eleven full maximum scores. He also won the Second Division Riders Final at Wimbledon in 1974. Glover was a regular member of the Division Two representative 'Young England' team between 1971 and 1974. Glover had made his Division One debut in 1971 for

West Ham Hammers The West Ham Hammers were a speedway team that raced at West Ham Stadium in London, England, from 1929 to 1971. The team were twice champions of the United Kingdom. History Origins and 1920s Speedway arrived at West Ham in 1928, the ina ...

, and one-off matches followed in 1973 for

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, whos ...

Reading Racers Reading Racers were a British motorcycle speedway team. Formed in 1968, they won four British League titles during their history. The club closed in October 2008 after the lease on Smallmead Stadium was sold and the site was demolished. His ...

Swindon Robins The Swindon Robins are a motorcycle speedway team from England, established in 1949 that have competed primarily in the top division of speedway league competition in the United Kingdom. They are five times league champions of the United Kingdo ...

, and

Wolverhampton Wolves Wolverhampton Wolves were a British motorcycle speedway team based in Wolverhampton, England. They were champions of the United Kingdom five times and raced at Monmore Green Stadium from 1928 to 2023. History 1928–1930 Speedway (known ...

. In 1974 he doubled up on a more regular basis with

Sheffield Tigers The Sheffield Tigers (sponsored by Tru Plant) are a motorcycle speedway team based in Sheffield, England. They currently race in the British SGB Premiership, and their home meetings take place at Owlerton Stadium. They were founded in 1929 an ...

, averaging 6.4 from eleven matches. In 1975 he made the move to the top division full-time with Sheffield, and also made his debut in the full England team. A drop in form in 1977 saw him transferred to

King's Lynn Stars King's Lynn Stars are a motorcycle speedway team who compete in the SGB Premiership. The nickname "Stars" was adopted from the defunct Norwich Stars team. The team was founded in 1965 and has been running continually since then, except for 199 ...

, and he also rode again in Division Two for Boston, but he never regained his earlier form and announced his retirement in July 1978, intending to ride in the German league.Oakes, Peter (1979) ''1979 Speedway Yearbook'', Studio Publications, , p. 144 He came out of retirement for a single match for Sheffield in 1980. After retiring from racing Glover became manager of the Sheffield Tigers team, and later managed the England team."Tatum In", ''

Speedway Star Speedway Star is a national motorcycle speedway magazine. The magazine is published every week of the year and the emphasis of the publication is on British speedway but also features international speedway from around the world. The magazine is ...

'', 7 April 1984, p.3

Family

Carl's brother Les Glover was also a professional speedway rider.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glover, Carl 1952 births Living people British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Sportspeople from Sheffield Boston Barracudas riders Sheffield Tigers riders King's Lynn Stars riders 20th-century English sportsmen