Leopold Killmeyer (6 April 1909 – 2001) was an international

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 Austria. He was known as Poldl in speedway racing and earned three international caps for the

Austria national speedway team The Austria national speedway team are one of the teams that compete in international team motorcycle speedway. History The Austrian speedway team competed in the inaugural Speedway World Team Cup in 1960, finishing third in the central Europe ...

Career

Killmeyer born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria bought his first racing bike aged 15 and was one of the early pioneers of speedway on the European continent. He finished runner-up in the Dirt Track Championnat du Monde (An early version of 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 ...

and rival of the

Star Riders' Championship The Star Riders' Championship was the forerunner of the Speedway World Championship and was inaugurated in 1929. The competition was sponsored by ''The Star (1888), The Star'', which was a London evening newspaper at that time. For the first year ...

) in 1933, 1934 and 1935. Records for

Austrian Individual Speedway Championship The Austrian Individual Speedway Championship is a Motorcycle speedway championship held each year to determine the Austrian national champion. Records before World War II are incomplete, it is believed that Leopold Killmeyer was the first w ...

before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

are incomplete, it is believed that Killmeyer was the first winner in 1930 and a 1934 article states he was champion of Austria at the time. He first rode in Britain in 1933, at a meeting at

West Ham Stadium West Ham Stadium existed between 1928 and 1972 in Custom House, Newham, Custom House, east London, England, on Prince Regent Lane, near the present-day Prince Regent DLR station. The venue was used for Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom, ...

. The following season in 1934, he signed for the Plymouth Tigers for the

1934 Speedway National League The 1934 National League Division One was the sixth season of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. It was also the first time that a second division/tier of racing was introduced following the creation of a reserves league. Summary Birming ...

season. He averaged 4.75 in a season which happened to be his only one in Britain. He won another Austrian Individual Speedway Championship in 1952.

Family

His younger brother

Karl Killmeyer Karl Killmeyer (29 October 1929 – 23 October 2015) was an international motorcycle speedway rider from Austria and earned multiple international caps for the Austria national speedway team. Career Killmeyer born in Vienna, Austria, followed ...

was also an international speedway rider.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Killmeyer, Leopold 1909 births 2001 deaths Austrian speedway riders Sportspeople from Vienna