The Sunderland Stars were 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 clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

team who raced at the Sunderland Greyhound Stadium from 1971 until 1974 in the Britrish League Division Two when

Len Silver Len Silver (born 2 February 1932, east London, United Kingdom) is a former speedway rider and is former promoter of the Rye House Rockets. Racing career Silver stopped racing in 1957 but returned to the Ipswich Witches in 1960 after a layoff d ...

acted as promoter on behalf of Allied Presentations Ltd.

History

Speedway was operational at the venue for part of one season when eight meetings were staged in 1964 under the "Saints" nickname. The Saints introduced Aussies

Jim Airey James Sydney Airey (born 19 August 1941 in Earlwood, New South Wales) is a former Australian international motorcycle speedway rider who rode in the 1971 Individual Speedway World Championship, 1971 World Final in Göteborg, Sweden and was a m ...

and

Gordon Guasco Gordon Guasco (born 24 November 1940 in Sydney, New South Wales - died, 16 November 1970 in Sydney) was an Australian motorcycle speedway rider who was a favourite at both the Sydney Showground Speedway and Liverpool Speedway. Guasco also rod ...

to British Speedway during 1964. The inaugural season of league speedway took place during the

1971 British League Division Two season The 1971 British League Division Two season was the second tier/division motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. Summary The league continued with 17 teams in its fourth season despite Reading Racers moving up to Division One and two teams droppin ...

but unfortunately the team finished 17th out of 17. This was followed by two seasons with 12th and 11th place finishes. In 1974, the club came under new ownership and were nicknamed the "Gladiators". It was also their final season before closure.

Season summary

Notable riders

* George Barclay * Russ Dent *

Brian Havelock Career Robert Brian Havelock (born 9 May 1942 in Yarm, Yorkshire) is a former motorcycle speedway rider and is the former promoter of the Redcar Bears, who compete in the Premier League.Oakes, P. (2004). ''British Speedway Who's Who''. A long c ...

Vic Harding Vic Harding (5 July 1952 in East Ham, London – 8 June 1979 Whipps Cross, London) was a motorcycle speedway rider. Career Harding began at the Rye House training school in 1970 run by Len Silver and spent several seasons trying to break into ...

* Jack Millen

References

Defunct speedway teams in the United Kingdom {{motorcycle-speedway-team-stub