Peter Edward Jarman was a

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 anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

rider from England.

Career

Jarman started as a cycle speedway 'kid' in the 1950s and graduated to the motorised sport of speedway racing at training track Rye House, Hertfordshire. He was signed up for league racing in 1960 by Stoke Potters speedway team, racing in the newly formed Provincial League between 1960 and 1963. It was while he was at Stoke that he gained his first call-up to represent England in Test Matches. He gained two nicknames – 'Speedy Pete' and 'PLJ' (Pure Lemon Juice) Kid. When the

Stoke Potters The Stoke Potters previously the Hanley Potters were a British speedway team competing in the National League. As Stoke, the team raced at Loomer Road Stadium in Newcastle-under-Lyme. As Hanley Potters they raced from 1929 to 1963. History H ...

speedway and greyhound Sun Street Stadium was sold for development at the end of 1963, Peter moved on to join Wolverhampton Wolves in the 1964 Provincial League, where he was their top scorer both in 1964 and, in 1965, in the new British League. As the Wolves top scorer he represented them in the British League Riders' Championship during the

1965 British League season The 1965 British League season was the 31st season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom. It was also the first known as the new British League which was formed in 1965, along with the British Speedway Promoters Association (BSPA). Th ...

. He later rode for Cradley Heathens and Oxford Rebels before ending his riding career with Eastbourne Eagles in 1977, where he doubled as coach.

Retirement

He ran a Speedway School at Cowley Stadium in the mid-1970s. In the late 1970s he moved from his roots of South London to Poole and became the track curator at Poole Speedway for several years. He represented his country on three occasions. He was a popular, hard-working rider throughout his career. Jarman died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma on 23 July 2007, aged 72 (not 75 as some sources quote), and his funeral was on 6 August in Poole. He had struggled with cancer over the previous ten years. He was survived by his wife, Ann, two sons and two daughters.

Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarman, Peter Edward British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Wolverhampton Wolves riders Oxford Cheetahs riders Cradley Heathens riders Stoke Potters riders Eastbourne Eagles riders 1935 births 2007 deaths