Eric Kemp Langton (27 September 1907 – 1999) was an English

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 ...

who won the Star Riders' Championship in 1932, the forerunner to the

Speedway World Championship The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official championsh ...

League career

Born in

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in 1907, Langton began his career at the Belle Vue track.Storey, Basil (1947) ''Speedway Favourites'', Sport-in-Print, p. 14 He rode for

in the 1929 season before returning to Belle Vue the following year, remaining with the club for the rest of his career. He won the Star Riders' Championship in 1932 and also finished runner-up in 1934.Bamford, Robert & Shailes, Glynn (2002) ''A History of the World Speedway Championship'', Tempus, , p. 10 He was part of the Belle Vue team that won the League Championship six times in seven year and the National Trophy five times in a row in the 1930s. After retiring from the sport he returned to Belle Vue in May 1946 to replace the injured

Bill Pitcher William George Henry Pitcher (born 5 February 1910 in Coventry, EnglandAddison J. (1948). ''The People Speedway Guide''. Odhams Press Limited - died 24 October 1995) was an international motorcycle speedway rider who rode in the first ever Wor ...

, scoring a full maximum in his first match back,

averaging In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

10.93 in his comeback season and finishing fourth in the British Riders Championship, the team also winning the National Trophy again that year.Morgan, Tom (1947) "The 1946 Season" in ''The People Speedway Guide'', Odhams Press, p. 25

1936 World Final

Langton lost the run-off for the inaugural

to Lionel Van Praag in 1936 in somewhat controversial circumstances. The Championship was decided by bonus points accumulated in previous rounds. Despite being unbeaten in the final,

Bluey Wilkinson Arthur George "Bluey" Wilkinson (27 August 1911 – 27 July 1940) was an international speedway rider. Wilkinson was Speedway World Champion in 1938 after narrowly missing out on winning the inaugural Championship in 1936. Early life Wi ...

was not crowned Champion. Bonus points accumulated by Langton and Van Praag took them to the top of the standings and into a run-off (Match Race). As they lined up at the tapes, Langton broke them which would ordinarily lead to disqualification. However, Van Praag stated he did not want to win the title by default and insisted that a race should take place. At the restart Langton made it to the first bend in front and led until the final bend on the last lap when Van Praag darted through the smallest of gaps to win by less than wheel length.Chaplin, John (1990) ''Speedway Special'', , p. 109–114 Afterwards, controversial allegations were abound that the two riders had 'fixed' the match race, deciding between them that the first person to the first bend would win the race and the Championship and split the prize money; Langton led into the first bend but was overtaken by Van Praag. Van Praag reportedly paid Langton £50 "conscience money" after the race for going back on the agreement.

Retirement

He built bikes to his own specifications, which were in widespread use around the world for many years after his speedway retirement. He eventually emigrated to

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

, Australia. He died in Perth in 2001.

World Final Appearances

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

- 2nd - 26pts (lost run-off) *

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Febr ...

- 10th - 16pts * 1938 -

- 8th - 13pts

Players cigarette cards

Langton is listed as number 27 of 50 in the 1930s Player's

cigarette card Cigarette cards are trading cards issued by tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and advertise cigarette brands. Between 1875 and the 1940s, cigarette companies often included collectible cards with their packages of cigarett ...

collection.

References

External links

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langton, Eric British speedway riders Belle Vue Aces riders 2001 deaths 1907 births