Douglas Templeton (18 June 1928 – 21 December 2019) was a

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 Scotland.

Career

Doug Templeton began racing for Glasgow White City Tigers during the

1953 Speedway National League Division Two The 1953 National League Division Two was the eighth post-war season of the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. Summary The League was reduced at the start of the season again to 10 teams with Oxford Cheetahs dropping down t ...

season. The following year he joined the

Lanarkshire Eagles Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no longer used for local government purposes, but gives ...

(based in Motherwell) but the team disbanded after the 1954 season. He rode a couple of matches for

Ipswich Witches The Ipswich Witches are a British motorcycle speedway club based at Foxhall Stadium near Ipswich, Suffolk. They compete in the British SGB Premiership. Meetings are staged on most Thursdays from March until October, normally commencing at 7.30 ...

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

before missing the 1957 season. Doug and his brother Willie Templeton then raced during the 1958 season in a series of challenge matches for Lanarkshire Eagles. The pair raced grass track during 1959, before joining

Edinburgh Monarchs The Edinburgh Monarchs are a Scottish speedway team based in Armadale. They compete in the SGB Championship, racing on Friday nights during the speedway season. The club is run by a board of directors, chaired by Alex Harkess and also runs a ...

for the new 1960 Provincial Speedway League. The pair spent five seasons together with Edinburgh from 1960 to 1965 before Willie finally separated from his brother by joining Glasgow Tigers during the

1965 British League season The 1965 British League season was the 31st season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom. It was also first known as the new British League which was formed in 1965, along with the British Speedway Promoters Association (BSPA). The ...

. Doug continued to ride for Edinburgh and won the Scottish Open Championship in 1960 and 1962. He stayed loyal with the club through the turmoil of the Coatbridge years. In 1970, as a Glasgow rider he teamed up with his brother and two nephews Jim McMillan and Bill McMillan. For the

1970 British League season The 1970 British League season was the 36th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the sixth season known as the British League. Summary Wembley Lions under the promotion of Trevor Redmond and Bernard Cottrel entered ...

all four family members were part of the team during the same season in 1970 and 1971. In 1972, along with his brother Willie, he joined Scottish rivals

Berwick Bandits The Berwick Bandits are a British speedway club, based in Berwick-upon-Tweed. They currently compete in the SGB Championship, racing at Shielfield Park, with home matches usually taking place on Saturday evenings. They also run a second team ...

in the second division. He continued to ride for Berwick until 1974 before appearing for Coatbridge in his 23rd and 24th seasons of 1975 and 1976. He earned international Scottish and British caps.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Templeton, Doug 1928 births 2019 deaths British speedway riders Scottish speedway riders Belle Vue Aces riders Berwick Bandits riders Edinburgh Monarchs riders Glasgow Tigers riders Motherwell Eagles riders People from Maybole