1937 Individual Speedway World Championship

Second official edition of the World motorcycle speedway championship

The 1937 Individual Speedway World Championship was the second edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

An attendance of 85,000 (a record for speedway in the United Kingdom at the time) saw Jack Milne win all five races to head an all USA top three on the podium. The track was criticised and was described as being too deep with cinders.[8]

The 1937 Speedway World Final programme.

Qualifying round

  • Top 28 riders qualify for Championship round
Date Venue Winner
24 May Wimbledon Stadium Wilbur Lamoreaux
29 May Harringay Stadium Lionel Van Praag
2 June New Cross Stadium Jack Parker
5 June Hyde Road Eric Langton
18 June Hackney Wick Stadium Cordy Milne
22 June West Ham Stadium George Newton

Championship round

  • The top 16 riders over the 6 qualifying rounds and 7 championship rounds would qualify for the World final.
Date Venue Winner
7 July New Cross Stadium Jack Milne
10 July Harringay Stadium Jack Milne
19 July Wimbledon Stadium Jack Milne & Ginger Lees
24 July Hyde Road Jack Milne
29 July Wembley Stadium Lionel Van Praag & Wilbur Lamoreaux
3 August West Ham Stadium Eric Langton
13 August Hackney Wick Stadium Arthur Atkinson

Top 16 qualifiers (2 reserves)

Pos. Rider Qual Points c/f
1 United States Jack Milne 83 13
2 England Eric Langton 78 12
3 United States Wilbur Lamoreaux 74 12
4 United States Cordy Milne 71 11
5 Canada Eric Chitty 70 11
6 Australia Lionel Van Praag 70 11
7 England Jack Parker 69 11
8 England George Newton 67 11
9 England Frank Charles 64 10
10 England Ginger Lees 61 10
11 England Frank Varey 51 8
12 England Arthur Atkinson 50 8
13 England Joe Abbott 49 8
14 Denmark Morian Hansen 45 7
15 England Bob Harrison 45 7
16 England Bill Kitchen 45 7
Pos. Rider Qual Points c/f
17 England Tommy Croombs 39 6
18 England Alec Statham 39 6
19 England Stan Greatrex 38
20 Australia Ron Johnson 37
21 New Zealand Wally Kilmister 35
22 Australia Dicky Case 34
23 Australia Charlie Spinks 33
24 England Cliff Parkinson 31
25 England Jack Ormston 30
26 England Norman Evans 28
27 England Broncho Dixon (res) 25
28 England Eric Gregory 24
29 England Tiger Stevenson 21
30 England Tommy Price (res) 20

World final

  • 2 September 1937
  • England Wembley Stadium, London
Pos. Rider c/f Points Final Points Final Heats Total Points
1 United States Jack Milne 13 15 (3,3,3,3,3) 28
2 United States Wilbur Lamoreaux 12 13 (3,3,3,1,3) 25
3 United States Cordy Milne 11 12 (2,3,2,3,2) 23
4 England Jack Parker 11 10 (2,3,1,2,2) 21
5 England Ginger Lees 10 9 (1,1,2,2,3) 19
6 England Frank Charles 10 7 (0,0,1,3,3) 17
7 Australia Lionel Van Praag 11 6 (3,0,-,3,0) 17
8 England Bill Kitchen 7 9 (1,2,2,2,2) 16
9 England George Newton 11 5 (3,0,0,0,2) 16
10 England Eric Langton 12 4 (1,0,0,3,0) 16
11 Denmark Morian Hansen 7 8 (1,2,3,1,1) 15
12 Canada Eric Chitty 11 4 (0,2,0,1,1) 15
13 England Joe Abbott 8 6 (2,1,1,2,0) 14
14 England Arthur Atkinson 8 6 (2,0,2,1,1) 14
15 England Frank Varey 8 3 (0,1,1,0,1) 11
16 England Tommy Croombs (res) 6 2 (0,2,0,0,0) 8
17 England Bob Harrison 7 - - 7
18 England Alec Statham (res) 6 0 (0) 6

References

  1. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  2. ^ "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  3. ^ "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  4. ^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  5. ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  7. ^ Oakes, Peter (1990). Speedway Yearbook 1990. Front Page Books. p. 13. ISBN 0-948882-15-8.
  8. ^ "World Speedway Championship". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 3 September 1937. Retrieved 5 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.