Tamworth Speedway were 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 ...

team who operated at three venues between 1932 and 1950. During the years of league competition they were based at Tamworth Greyhound Stadium,

Fazeley Fazeley is an industrial town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Lichfield District of Staffordshire, England, south of Tamworth, Staffordshire, Tamworth town centre.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : The ci ...

, near Tamworth.

History

Speedway in Tamworth began in 1932 at two venues; the first was Mile Oak Speedway on Sutton Road, Mile Oak and had a circuit of 360 yards and began on 28 March 1932. The track located behind Long Wood Bridge and Farm held eight fixtures during 1932. In August of the same year a second venue opened on Fazeley Road and held 12 meetings. Both promoted just open meetings and held no affiliation to league speedway at the time. Both tracks continued to host meetings throughout 1933 but only Mile Oak continued afterwards from 1934 to 1935. In 1947, Tamworth entered a speedway team in the leagues for the first time, with a new venue for speedway chosen at the Tamworth Greyhound Stadium. They were known as the Tamworth greyhounds or hounds and finished fifth in the

1947 Speedway National League Division Three The 1947 National League Division Three was the inaugural season of British speedway's National League Division Three Speedway in 1947 was restricted in terms of fixtures and attendances following the fallout from World War II. With several n ...

but won the Midlands / South Cup defeating Eastbourne in the final. After a slight improvement in 1948 (4th) and 1949 (3rd) they began the 1950 season with a new name of Tamworth Tammies. The 1950 season would be their last, with the team finishing sixth in the

1950 Speedway National League Division Three The 1950 National League Division Three was the fourth season of British speedway's National League Division Three The league was reduced from 13 teams to 10. Halifax Dukes, Plymouth, Yarmouth and Hanley had all moved up to Division Two whi ...

but reaching the Division three Knockout Cup final, losing to

Oxford Cheetahs The Oxford Cheetahs are a British Motorcycle speedway, speedway teamLawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. based at Oxford Stadium, in Oxford, England. They were founded in 1939 and are five times champions of Britain, in 1964 Speed ...

in the final. The demise of speedway in Tamworth was blamed on a lack of support by promoter Les Marshall.

Season summary

Notable riders

Harry Bastable Henry Bastable (30 August 1928 – 5 September 2021) was an international motorcycle speedway rider and promoter from England. Career summary Bastable was a novice at the Alan Hunt (speedway rider), Alan Hunt 1949 winter training school when ...

* Eric Boothroyd

References

Defunct speedway teams in the United Kingdom {{England-sport-team-stub