Leonard Frank Williams (15 December 1920 – 15 June 2007) was a British

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 for

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

Career

Born in

in December 1920, Williams served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

before beginning his speedway career, joining at the outbreak of war aged seventeen as a mechanic, and being

demobilized Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and militar ...

in 1945, by which time had risen to the rank of flying officer.Morgan, Tom (1949) ''Who's Who in Speedway 1949'', Sport-in-Print, London, p. 74-75 His older brother Stan was captain of

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 ...

, and tutored Len in the sport in 1947 while injured. By 1948, he had become a regular member of the Sheffield team, becoming a heat leader in 1949. He moved on to ride for Leicester Hunters (still his local team as he lived in Narborough), for a transfer fee of 1,000,Len Williams - One of Two Captain Brothers
, ''

Evening Times The ''Glasgow Times'' is an evening tabloid newspaper published Monday to Saturday in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Called ''The Evening Times'' from 1876, it was rebranded as the ''Glasgow Times'' on 4 December 2019.1951 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 ...

. In 1952 he was selected (along with his brother) for the England team to face Scotland, and also rode for Britain against an 'overseas' team. Williams won the inaugural Midland Riders' Championship in 1952. Williams continued riding for the Hunters for six seasons between 1951 and 1956 and taking over from Cyril Page as captain,Jones, Alan (2004) ''Speedway in Leicester: The Hunters Era'', Automedia, p. 164 before retiring. In 1956 he was denied a second Midland Riders' Championship after narrowly losing out to teammate

Ken McKinlay John Robert Vickers (Ken) McKinlay (7 June 1928 – 9 February 2003) was a British international motorcycle speedway rider. He earned 23 caps for the Scotland national speedway team, 92 caps for the England national speedway team and 23 caps fo ...

. He came out of retirement to return to the Sheffield team in 1960, also riding in 1961, but only in home matches. He died in June 2007 at the age of 86.Ancestry: Mr Leonard Frank Williams in the England and Wales, Death Index, 1989-2018
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Len 1920 births 2007 deaths British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Leicester Hunters riders People from Narborough, Leicestershire Sportspeople from Leicestershire Sheffield Tigers riders Sportspeople from Leicester Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force officers 20th-century English sportsmen