Roy_Craighead

Roy Craighead

Roy Craighead

British motorcycle speedway rider

Roy Allan Craighead (11 September 1916 – 17 March 2007) was a motorcycle speedway rider from England.[1]

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Biography

Craighead, born in Ilford, London, began his British leagues career riding for Wembley Lions during the 1946 Speedway National League season.[2] His first league season proved to be extremely successful, winning both the league title[3] and London Cup with his team.[4] He remained with Wembley for two more seasons and picked up more silverware, after winning the league title and British Speedway Cup in 1947 and the National Trophy and London Cup in 1948.[5]

In 1949, he joined Southampton Saints in exchange for Alf Bottoms, where he spent two seasons[6] He also reached the Championship round of the 1949 Individual Speedway World Championship and averaged 8.36 for Southampton in 1950.[7] Mid-way through the 1951 season, he was forced to find a new club following the withdrawal of Southampton from the league. He switched to another south coast team in the form of Poole Pirates and would help them win the league that season. His knack of riding for a team that would win trophies continued as Poole moved up to division 2 and won the league and cup double.[8]

Craighead rode for Norwich Stars in 1953 and the beginning of 1954 before deciding to quite racing for a while. He returned to ride for Rayleigh Rockets a couple of times in 1956 and more regularly in 1960 and 1961.[9]

References

  1. [1]
    "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  2. [2]
    "1946 season" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  3. [3]
    Oakes, Peter (1978). 1978 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. ISBN 978-0904584509.
  4. [4]
    "Wembley Win Cup Final". South Western Star. 30 August 1946. Retrieved 16 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. [5]
    "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  6. [6]
    "Exchange of Riders". Daily Herald. 29 March 1949. Retrieved 4 January 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. [7]
    "Rider averages 1929 to 2009" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  8. [8]
    Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  9. [9]
    "Potters' Speedway riders will have a hard task". Staffordshire Sentinel. 14 July 1960. Retrieved 4 January 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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