Has There Ever Been A Spanish Speedway Rider?

[moxey63 1,785]

Spanish, you ask...

 

Does Liquorish Klingberg count?

[The Voice Of Reason 2,124]

If memory serves me right, I think a few Mildenhall riders were Spanish. They certainly knew how to use their 'El Bows' around West Row.

 

Can you imagine it though - Speedway in Spain. Meetings being cancelled because it's too hot and dry!

 

If only...........

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

I went to a Speedway meeting at San Pardo in Majorca around about 1971 . There were about 6,000 people there and I think the meeting was won by Marshall Pugh

Half of the riders were Spanish but very inexperienced

 

Run by Ian Hoskins and Reg Luckhurst and based on a bullring just outside Palma di Mallorca. You can still see the stadium from the vintage electric train from Palma to Soller.

[martin_t 219]

It wasn't very popular,it was only watched by Juan Menendez dog.

[Guest]

It wasn't very popular,it was only watched by Juan Menendez dog.

 

There was a reported 6,000 crowd at the first meeting - many of them holidaymakers - as well as local people.

[andrewrunagall 35]

Benji Compton of Kent Kings was born in Tenerife, Spain.

[Guest]

Benji Compton of Kent Kings was born in Tenerife, Spain.

 

That does not qualify him as Spanish under Spanish law. His parents were British and his birth would have been registered as such at the British Consulate there.

[george.m 3,063]

Five Juan.

[Guest]

I love the top motor cyclists like Jorge Lorenzo, in Moto GP. A format the Spanish dominate at this moment in time. Given the spaniards prowess on motor bikes, has there ever been a Spanish speedway rider?

 

Four Spanish riders rode at West Ham and Wembley in 1931.It's doubtful if they were former bullfighters, as a publicity blurb of that time claimed.

Two of the Spanish riders were the brothers Poto Primo and Poto Segundo. Both were still riding in 1948 and 1949 when meetings took place at the Metropolitan Stadium in Madrid - according to Stenner's annual for those years.

At West Ham on September 1 1931, Spanish rider Angel Arche defeated both Arthur Atkinson and Tiger Stevenson in match races. I do not have any results for the other riders or the results at Wembley.

The last active Spanish rider I know of is Alberto Sirvan who raced in France in the late 1950s,

Edited June 22, 2013 by Guest

[The White Knight 9,039]

Four Spanish riders rode at West Ham and Wembley in 1931.It's doubtful if they were former bullfighters, as a publicity blurb of that time claimed.

Two of the Spanish riders were the brothers Poto Primo and Poto Segundo. Both were still riding in 1948 and 1949 when meetings took place at the Metropolitan Stadium in Madrid - according to Stenner's annual for those years.

At West Ham on September 1 1931, Spanish rider Angel Arche defeated both Arthur Atkinson and Tiger Stevenson in match races. I do not have any results for the other riders or the results at Wembley.

The last active Spanish rider I know of is Alberto Sirvan who raced in France in the late 1950s,

 

It seems that just about ANY Query can be answered on the BSF.

 

Great bit if research gustix. Thank you for that.

 

Angel Arche must have been a pretty good Rider. Tiger Stephenson and Arthur Atkinson were no slouches at Speedway.

[T.N.T. 355]

Benji Compton of Kent Kings was born in Tenerife, Spain.

 

Tenerife isn't Spain, it's closer to Africa than anywhere but they do speak Spanish.

 

 

There was a rider from Madrid who had an Italian father from Venice, Italy ..... Juan Corneto !!!

 

Then there was the Spaniard who tried his luck at Speedway but decide on a trip over here that his future was in football and joined a London team ad his signing was on the back of The Sun ..... JUAN NIL to the Arsenal !!!

Edited June 22, 2013 by T.N.T.

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

Tenerife isn't Spain, it's closer to Africa than anywhere but they do speak Spanish.

 

 

It is part of Spain, part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands within the Spanish state and has been since it fell to the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War..

[Guest]

Tenerife isn't Spain, it's closer to Africa than anywhere but they do speak Spanish.

 

It is part of Spain, part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands within the Spanish state and has been since it fell to the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War..

 

Perhaps this why they speak Spanish: source Wikipedia:

The Canary Islands (English /kəˈnɛəri ˈaɪləndz/; Spanish: Islas Canarias [ˈizlas kaˈnaɾjas], locally: [ˈiɦlah kaˈnaɾjah]), also known as the Canaries (Spanish: Canarias), are a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are one of Spain's 17 autonomous communities and an outermost region of theEuropean Union. The islands include (from largest to smallest): Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria,Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, La Graciosa, Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara,Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste.

 

So far as Spanish speedway riders are concerned, there were two Spanish starters in the British-staged 1936 World Championship qualifying rounds. Juan Vinals and Jose Vinals failed to score in the qualifying round at Hackney Wick on June 19, 1936,

Edited June 22, 2013 by Guest

[Parsloes 1928 nearly 495]

It is part of Spain, part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands within the Spanish state and has been since it fell to the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War..

 

That's right - the Canary Islands are not independent and politically is part of Spain.

 

Wikipedia says this of the former CL Pairs & Indiv champ and current Kent CTA Fire King, Benji:

"is a Spanish-British motorcycle speedway rider....Compton is the first speedway rider with Spanish citizenship to have signed a contract with a Polish club (Polonia Piła for the 2009 season)

 

So that would suggest he has dual nationality...

[Guest]

That's right - the Canary Islands are not independent and politically is part of Spain.

 

Wikipedia says this of the former CL Pairs & Indiv champ and current Kent CTA Fire King, Benji:

"is a Spanish-British motorcycle speedway rider....Compton is the first speedway rider with Spanish citizenship to have signed a contract with a Polish club (Polonia Piła for the 2009 season)

 

So that would suggest he has dual nationality...

 

Not according to the link and the extract. As I said previously, Benji Compton would have been born in the Canary Islands of British parents with his birth registered consequently at the British Consulate, thus making him British.

 

http://www.dlgimmigration.com/united-states-citizenship/list-of-countries-that-allow-or-disallow-dual-citizenship/

Dual Citizenships Allowed:

Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Bangladesh, Canada, Cyprus, United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, South Korea, South Africa (requires permission) , Egypt(requires prior permission), Greece, France, Finland, Germany (requires prior permission), Iraq, Italy, Israel, Ireland, Hungary, Iceland, Sweden, Slovenia, Syria, Serbia, Armenia, Lebanon, Malta, Spain ( allows only with certain Latin american countries), Tonga, Phillipines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka (by retention), Pakistan (accepts only with 16 countries), Portual, Turkey (requires permission)