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iris123

10 favorite Abyssinian riders

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Well Gene Tella will probably head most people’s list....

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Guest
22 minutes ago, iris123 said:

Well Gene Tella will probably head most people’s list....

That's an interesting name - as I recall he was mainly active in Eastern Europe in the early 1930s, primarily in the old Czechoslovakia. I seem to recall that Gene Tella was a works rider and did especially well in events at Pardubice.

Also, and it must be casting memory back about eight years, that there was a feature on 'SpeedwayPlus' about him. 

Edited by Guest

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And Austria.In fact I think he was based in Vienna and rode an Austrian made bike,the name of which fails me at the moment

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Tella lived in Vienna and rode in Austrian Long-track meetings in the 1930. He sometimes did accompany Austrian number one Leopold "Poldi" Killmeyer for race meetings in some other countries on the Continent. Tella once competed in the unofficial Dirt Track World Championship in Paris, France. 

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... and this Gene Tella (the French referred to him as Mohammed Tella in their World Championship programme) was certainly the one and only Abyssinian / Ethiopian speedway rider I have ever heard of. He may have been the son of an Abyssinian diplomat in Vienna, where he started his motorcycle race career in the early 1930s, with a little help from Leopold Killmeyer and the Austrian Motor Riders Club.

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I have seen one or two photos of Gene with his father,who I remember being dressed in East African style clothes

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