Christopher John Kitchen (2 August 1938 – 21 July 1990) 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 England. He earned two international caps for the

Great Britain 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 ...

Career

Kitchen started his British leagues career in 1958 as he captained the Bradford Boomerangs junior side and in the 1958 Speedway National League he rode for

Belle Vue Aces The Belle Vue Aces are a British speedway club, based in Manchester. The club hold the record of having won the top tier League championship 14 times. They currently compete in the SGB Premiership, racing at The National Speedway Stadium, wit ...

, where he helped the team win the

National Trophy National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. He would ride for the Manchester club for six years until the end of 1963. He also had spells with Bradford Panthers and

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 ...

in the

Provincial League Provincial League (formerly known as Professional League) also known as Pro League was the old regional Football league in Thailand in 1999–2008. It was founded in 1999 under the name "Provincial League" organized by Sports Authority of Thailan ...

. From 1963 he rode for Sheffield and in 1965 topped the team's averages, which led him to represent Sheffield in the

British League Riders' Championship The British League Riders Championship was an individual motorcycle speedway contest between the top riders (or two riders) with the highest Calculated Match Average, average from each club competing in the British League in the UK, or the top ...

. His last season was in 1966 and he retired aged just 28. He was involved in a crash that resulted in the death of Ivor Hughes in 1966, which seemed instrumental in his decision to retire.

Family

His uncle Bill Kitchen was a speedway rider.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitchen, Jack 1938 births 1990 deaths British speedway riders Belle Vue Aces riders Bradford Panthers riders Sheffield Tigers riders