Melbourne Speedbowl (also known by several other names) was a motorsport venue, located on Geelong Road in

Brooklyn, Victoria Brooklyn is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Brimbank and Hobsons Bay local government areas. Brooklyn recorded a population of 1,979 at the 2021 census. ...

, Australia. The site today is industrial buildings on Fleet Street in Laverton North.

History

The site which was originally a greyhound racing track was owned by a Mr. Wilson and he built a speedway track, which he named Brooklyn Speedway, with the intention of running

Dirt track racing Dirt track racing is a form of motorsport held on clay or dirt surfaced banked oval racetracks. Dirt track racing started in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 1930s using both automobiles and motorc ...

. In 1965, it was bought by three businessmen for A$ 250,000 and later opened for hot rods and stock cars. The venue then saw

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 ...

and sidecars introduced, the solo track record was set by riders such as

Eric Boocock Eric Henry Boocock (born 28 February 1945 in Dewsbury, England) is a former motorcycle speedway rider who appeared in three Speedway World Championship finals. He was the joint manager of the Great Britain national speedway team with Colin Pra ...

and Bert Harkins during 1968. Various promoters took over the track and it was renamed several times. The track became a significant venue for important events, including qualifying rounds 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 ...

starting in 1976 and the

Victorian Individual Speedway Championship The Victorian Individual Speedway Championship is a Motorcycle speedway championship held annually in Australia's southernmost mainland state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria to determine the State champion. The event is organised by the Motor ...

on eleven occasions from 1966 to 1981.

Names and years

* Brooklyn Speedway (?–1965) * Melbourne Speedway (1965–1972) * Northern Park Raceway (1972–1978) promoted by Phil Page * U.S.A.C Brooklyn Speedway (1978–1979) promoted by Paul Camilleri * Western International Raceway (1980–1982) promoted by Mick & Glenda King * The Melbourne Speedbowl (1982–1988) promoted byr Richard Newnham

References

Defunct speedway venues in Australia Demolished buildings and structures in Victoria (state) Demolished sports venues 1965 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 1965 {{speedway-bio-stub