Jan Holub I (12 August 1942 – 18 February 2018) was a Czech

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 capped 12 times by the Czechoslovak national speedway team.

Speedway career

Holub was a two times champion of the Czechoslovakia, winning the 1968 and 1969 Czechoslovak Individual Speedway Championship. In 1967, he was part of the Prague team that toured the United Kingdom and 1968, where he starred alongside

Antonín Kasper Sr. Antonín Kasper Sr. (31 October 1932 – 12 November 2017) was an international Motorcycle speedway rider from Czechoslovakia. He earned 13 international caps for the Czechoslovakia national speedway team. Speedway career Kasper Sr. won two m ...

and Antonín Šváb Sr. He rode in the top tier of British Speedway riding for

Exeter Falcons The Exeter Falcons were a Motorcycle speedway, speedway team based in the city of Exeter. The Falcons operated from 1947 to 2005 at the County Ground Stadium in Exeter. History Origins & 1920s Speedway began at the County Ground in 1929, ...

from 1969 until 1970. Holub reached three

Speedway World Pairs Championship The Speedway World Pairs Championship was an annual motorcycle speedway event held annually in different countries. The first competition was held in 1968, and the final competition was held in 1993. In 1994, it was merged with the World Team ...

finals, the third was in 1974 when partnered Jan Hadek to the final at the 1974 Speedway World Pairs Championship, which was won by Sweden. In 1977, the

Bristol Bulldogs The Bristol Bulldogs were a British motorcycle speedway team based at the Knowle Stadium, Bristol, England from 1928 to 1961Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. and later Eastville Stadium from 1977 to 1978. History ...

team manager Pat Tapson unsuccessfully asked the Czech authorities to allow Holub and Jan Hadek to compete in the British leagues.

World Final appearances

World Pairs Championship

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

(with Zdeněk Majstr) - 5th - 12pts (8) *

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 114,556 inhabitants in 2024. It is widely known for being a textile city, home to worldwide brands and companie ...

(with

Jiří Štancl Jiří Štancl (born 18 November 1949) is a Czech former international motorcycle speedway rider. He earned 39 international caps for the Czechoslovakia national speedway team. Career Štancl was born on 18 November 1949 in Prague, Czechoslov ...

) - 6th - 12pts (5) *

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

–

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, Hyde Road (with Jan Hadek) – 7th – 6pts (3)

World Team Cup

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

- London,

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

(with

/ Luboš Tomíček Sr. / Jaroslav Volf) - 4th - 7pts *

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

- London, Wembley Stadium (with Zdeněk Majstr /

Miloslav Verner Miloslav Verner also known as Mila Verner (1938–2018) was a motorcycle speedway rider from Czechoslovakia. Speedway career Like many Czech riders of the time, the Czechsolovak authorities rarely allowed riders to compete for British league tea ...

Václav Verner Václav Verner (6 May 1949 – 13 March 2018) was an international speedway rider. He earned 42 international caps for the Czechoslovakia national speedway team. Speedway career He was the individual champion of Czechoslovakia, after winning t ...

) - 4th - 3pts

References

1942 births 2018 deaths Czech speedway riders Czechoslovak speedway riders Exeter Falcons riders Czech expatriate speedway riders in England Sportspeople from České Budějovice {{CzechRepublic-speedway-bio-stub