Wimbledon Dons
| Wimbledon Dons | |||||||||||||||
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| Club information | |||||||||||||||
| Track address | Wimbledon Stadium Plough Lane Wimbledon London | ||||||||||||||
| Country | England | ||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1928 | ||||||||||||||
| Closed | 2005 | ||||||||||||||
| Club facts | |||||||||||||||
| Colours | Yellow Star on Red | ||||||||||||||
| Track size | 355 yards (325 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Major team honours | |||||||||||||||
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The Wimbledon Dons were a professional motorcycle speedway team who operated from the Wimbledon Stadium, Plough Lane in London from 1929 until 1991.[1][2] The team were seven times champions of Britain.
History
Origins
The speedway track opened at Wimbledon Stadium during the pioneer days of speedway in the United Kingdom on the Bank holiday of 26 May 1928 with an open meeting.[3] The stadium had been opened one year previous for greyhound racing and the speedway track was constructed inside the greyhound track.[4]
The Wimbledon Dons were founder members of the 1929 Speedway Southern League and held their first home league fixture on 6 May against Birmingham Perry Barr.[5]
1930s
The Dons improved to a fourth place finish in 1930 and then finished 5th in 1931, struggling to match fellow London team, the Wembley Lions who dominated the league.[6] Wimbledon signed some of the sports early stars, such as Jim Kempster, Dicky Case, Billy Lamont, Ray Tauscher, Vic Huxley and Claude Rye. Wimbledon were founder members of the National League in 1932 and achieved a runner-up spot behind Belle Vue Aces in the 1933 Speedway National League.
Following a woeful 1937 season team changes were made, with Benny Kaufman being brought in to support fellow American Wilbur Lamoreaux and Australian Eric Collins. The changes helped the Dons secure the club's first silverware with a National Trophy[7] and London Cup double.[8] Wimbledon were competing for the 1939 title and won the 1939 London Cup,[9] but the season was suspended due to the outbreak of war.
Post war
Wimbledon Stadium was closed during the Second World War but upon their reopening in 1946 there were 42,000 people in attendance with an estimated 10,000 more locked outside. The club were very successful at the highest level of British speedway during the 1950s and 1960s, and attracted numerous famous riders.
Having been defunct for eleven years, the team was reopened again in 2002 by Steve Ribbons & David Croucher in the Conference League.[10] However, in 2005, with Ian Perkin, Dingle Brown & Perry Attwood being joint promoters of the club, they were forced to close when Clive Feltham, the Managing Director of the stadium owners Greyhound Racing Association insisted on dramatically increasing the rent paid by the team to the stadium.[11]
Honours
- National League champions: 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961
- National Trophy winners: 1938, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1962
- KO Cup winners: 1968, 1969, 1970
- London Cup winners: 1938, 1939, 1961, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985
- RAC Cup winners: 1954
- Britannia Shield winners: 1959
- Gauntlet Spring Gold Cup winners: 1979
- Conference Pairs champions: 2004, 2005
Notable riders
-
Cyril Brine -
Barry Briggs -
Dicky Case - Billy Dallison
- John Davis
- Vic Duggan
- Andy Grahame
-
Bert Harkins -
Sverre Harrfeldt - Oliver Hart
- Trevor Hedge
- Ron How
- Vic Huxley
- Gerry Jackson
-
Edward Jancarz -
Tommy Jansson - Dave Jessup
- Roger Johns
-
Benny Kaufman - Gordon Kennett
- Jim Kempster
- Gus Kuhn
- Billy Lamont
- Wilbur Lamoreaux
- Reg Luckhurst
- Cyril Maidment
- Geoff Mardon
- Ivan Mauger
- Ronnie Moore
- Ray Morton
-
Kai Niemi - Göte Nordin
- Olle Nygren
- Bobby Ott
- Norman Parker
- Geoff Pymar
- Colin Richardson
- Larry Ross
- Claude Rye
- Malcolm Simmons
- Kelvin Tatum
- Ray Tauscher
- Roy Trigg
- Todd Wiltshire
Season summary
References
- ^ Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). Homes of British Speedway. ISBN 0-7524-2210-3
- ^ Jacobs, N. Speedway in London, ISBN 0-7524-2221-9
- ^ "1928 season" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
- ^ Genders, Roy (1981). The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing, page 90. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN 07207-1106-1.
- ^ "On the Speedway". Daily News (London). 7 May 1929. Retrieved 23 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Speedway Teams UK 1929-1934". Cyber Motorcycle. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
- ^ "1938 National Trophy" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
- ^ "Speedway win for Wimbledon". Daily Herald. 11 October 1938. Retrieved 16 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Speedway Comedy in Dons Cup Win". Daily Herald. 11 July 1939. Retrieved 16 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Findon, Ben (1 May 2002). "Speedway: Rebirth of glory club". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 October 2008.
- ^ Oakes, P (2006). Speedway Star Almanac. Pinegen Ltd. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0.