Ronald Arthur Bainbridge (26 April 1924 – 5 November 2000) was an Australian

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. During his speedway career he rode as Junior Bainbridge and earned 9 international caps for the

Australia national speedway team The Australia national speedway team is one of the leading teams in international motorcycle speedway, with the country regarded as the birthplace of the sport in the 1920s. The team are five times champions of the world having won the sports p ...

Biography

Bainbridge, born in Melbourne, was spotted riding by

Charlie Spinks Charles Augustus Spinks (9 April 1904 – 16 October 1987) was an international motorcycle speedway rider from Australia. He earned 26 international caps for the Australia national speedway team. Biography Spinks, born in Singleton, New South ...

in 1946. before beginning his British leagues career riding for

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

during the

1947 Speedway National League Division Two The 1947 National League Division Two was the second post-war season of the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. In the previous season, the league was known as the Northern League but the addition of Bristol Bulldogs and a thi ...

season. After two moderate seasons his average improved significantly during 1949, when he hit 8.17 and then increased this to 8.68 in 1950. He became a crowd favourite and expectations were high when he rode for them. He reached the Championship round of the

1950 Individual Speedway World Championship The 1950 Individual Speedway World Championship was the fifth edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. The title was won by Welshman Freddie Williams with the pivotal heat being the heat against Austra ...

and the

1951 Individual Speedway World Championship The 1951 Individual Speedway World Championship was the sixth edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. Australia's Jack Young won the World Championship. Young won a run-off for the title with British ...

and averaged an impressive 9.18 in 1952 for Glasgow. His final season at Glasgow was in 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 ...

, because the following year he signed 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 ...

at a cost of £500, to help clear the debts of the Scottish club. He would spend four years with the Suffolk club, recording 9.32 and topping the team's averages during his first season with them. He retired form British speedway after the 1957 season but returned to Australia and continued to ride for a few years, riding for Australia against England as late as January 1960.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bainbridge, Junior 1924 births 2000 deaths Australian speedway riders Glasgow Tigers riders Australian expatriate speedway riders in Scotland Ipswich Witches riders Australian expatriate speedway riders in England Motorcycle racers from Melbourne Sportsmen from Victoria (state) 20th-century Australian sportsmen