British Riders' Championships

[brianbuck 928]

I'm surprised that there has been no comment regarding the article printed in the latest Speedway Star which reports that the FIM is to be petitioned to re-classify the 1946 1947 and 1948 British Riders' Championship Finals as World Championships. These three finals all featured the 16 best riders in the World, and the three winners, Tommy Price, Jack Parker and Vic Duggan should certainly be entitled to claim the status of "World Champion" which has been denied to them.

These three events were conducted in exactly the same way as previous and later World Championships with Qualifying Rounds which featured every rider competing in the British Leagues. I'm not 100% certain about 1946, but the 1947 and 1948 Qualifying Rounds included a number of European riders who were not attached to British Clubs, and the fact than none of them were good enough to qualify for the Wembley Finals is immaterial - the best 16 riders of the day were all in the final! Every speedway rider of quality was competing in the British Leagues during those three seasons, so why these event were not described as "World Championships" in the first place is a nonsense - and this ought to be rectified.

Tommy Price perhaps, had the advantage of riding in the final on his home track, but there can be no question at all that both Vic Duggan and Jack Parker were the outstanding riders of the time. Parker, who rode speedway from 1928 until 1954, and was one of the country's leading riders for all of that time, was a very worthy World Champion, as of course was Vic Duggan, and it is scandalous that they have been prevented from being accepted as such.

I was pleased to read that the campaign is being supported by Tommy Price's wife and by the sons of both Jack Parker and Vic Duggan, and by a number of respected senior promoters such as Len Silver and Reg Fearman, and I believe speedway enthusiasts everywhere should also give it their backing.

[The White Knight 9,039]

I do sincerely hope that something can be done about this. At the moment, those lads were deserving of being called 'World Champions' but, for whatever reason, were not recognised as such. I think it would be great if this could happen. Fingers crossed for their families sake.

[Bavarian 767]

I don't know. What comes next? Declare the winners of the Star Championsips of the early 30s as world champions as well? Don't mess with historic facts. Those meetings never were contested as world championships. I am against any retrospective change of historic facts.  

 

[chunky 6,092]

5 hours ago, Bavarian said:

I don't know. What comes next? Declare the winners of the Star Championsips of the early 30s as world champions as well? Don't mess with historic facts. Those meetings never were contested as world championships. I am against any retrospective change of historic facts.  

 

I hate to say it, but I have to agree with you. Look at the problems we had with the World Pairs. Trying to change things 75 years down the road is never easy, and as you say, they never WERE "World Championships", despite being considered as unofficial ones.

[midlandred 206]

For me, the World Individual Championship ran from 1936 to 1994.  Before then there were various other events, 1940-48 too. From 1995, there’s been a Grand Prix Series, with its own champion.

[Skodaman 192]

13 hours ago, Bavarian said:

I don't know. What comes next? Declare the winners of the Star Championsips of the early 30s as world champions as well? Don't mess with historic facts. Those meetings never were contested as world championships. I am against any retrospective change of historic facts.  

 

Here, Here!!!

[brianbuck 928]

I don't feel that this is a case of "changing history" - its more a matter of "correcting history."  The 1946 Final was described "The British Riders' Championship" and for 1947 and 1948 they were styled "The Speedway Riders' Championship" which certainly in the case of the latter two, were "World Championship Finals in all but name.

For 1946, a fair number of the pre-war Australian and American stars were still undecided as to whether to return to British clubs, but they were all back here by the following year, so I don't see that it can be argued that these latter two finals didn't feature the world's best riders of the time.

[BL65 657]

On 12/9/2023 at 9:32 PM, Bavarian said:

I don't know. What comes next? Declare the winners of the Star Championships of the early 30s as world champions as well? Don't mess with historic facts. Those meetings never were contested as world championships. I am against any retrospective change of historic facts.  

For comparison purposes:

When Barry Briggs won the world title in 1966, he had to compete in three British Qualifying Rounds, a British Semi-Final, the British Final, the British-Nordic Final and the European Final before contesting the World Final. His total number of rides on the way to becoming champion was 40.

In the 1934 Star Championship, each track was scheduled to hold an eliminating contest to determine which two riders would be their representatives in the Wembley Final. Jack Parker beat three riders in a qualifying heat at his home track, Harringay, to progress to a final where again he defeated three riders. In the final at Wembley, he scraped into a semi-final by finishing third in a heat behind Eric Langton and Ron Johnson. He won his semi-final and then beat Langton and Ginger Lees in the final. His journey to the title saw him compete in just 5 races. Jack Parker had a fine record in his career but a handful of rides in the Star Championship in 1934 was not enough to prove he was the best in the world at that time.

1934 was the season when the Lea Bridge team relocated to Walthamstow in August. As Lea Bridge closed before having an opportunity to stage an eliminator, the National Speedway Association nominated Dick Case and Dusty Haigh to represent Walthamstow.  This decision was taken as the final was due to be held on 23rd August, shortly after Walthamstow opened. As a result, either of the Walthamstow riders could have sprung a surprise and won at Wembley by emulating Parker through a third place in a semi-final and then grabbing two race wins. Not inconceivable as Case had finished third in the championship two years earlier. Neither progressed beyond the semi-final, however. Winning a championship by only contesting three races would have been very different to the 1966 journey of Barry Briggs to the world title.

[iris123 20,985]

23 minutes ago, BL65 said:

For comparison purposes:

When Barry Briggs won the world title in 1966, he had to compete in three British Qualifying Rounds, a British Semi-Final, the British Final, the British-Nordic Final and the European Final before contesting the World Final. His total number of rides on the way to becoming champion was 40.

In the 1934 Star Championship, each track was scheduled to hold an eliminating contest to determine which two riders would be their representatives in the Wembley Final. Jack Parker beat three riders in a qualifying heat at his home track, Harringay, to progress to a final where again he defeated three riders. In the final at Wembley, he scraped into a semi-final by finishing third in a heat behind Eric Langton and Ron Johnson. He won his semi-final and then beat Langton and Ginger Lees in the final. His journey to the title saw him compete in just 5 races. Jack Parker had a fine record in his career but a handful of rides in the Star Championship in 1934 was not enough to prove he was the best in the world at that time.

1934 was the season when the Lea Bridge team relocated to Walthamstow in August. As Lea Bridge closed before having an opportunity to stage an eliminator, the National Speedway Association nominated Dick Case and Dusty Haigh to represent Walthamstow.  This decision was taken as the final was due to be held on 23rd August, shortly after Walthamstow opened. As a result, either of the Walthamstow riders could have sprung a surprise and won at Wembley by emulating Parker through a third place in a semi-final and then grabbing two race wins. Not inconceivable as Case had finished third in the championship two years earlier. Neither progressed beyond the semi-final, however. Winning a championship by only contesting three races would have been very different to the 1966 journey of Barry Briggs to the world title.

Yes, but to contrast how many rides did Briggo have to get the 1958 title ?

Edited December 11, 2023 by iris123

[BL65 657]

4 minutes ago, iris123 said:

Yes, but to contrast how many rides did Briggo have to get the 1958 title ?

Just 5, having been seeded as reigning champion, something I disapproved of.

[old bob at herne bay 828]

No  leave it be.  Renaming these competitions nearly 60 years later is wrong in my opinion.

Think every speedway historian recognises and acknowledges that they did show who was the best rider in World Speedway at the time. BUT the authorities of the day named them as they did and not "World Championships" and they should remain in the record books as they were originally named. 

 

[iris123 20,985]

The Paris meetings in contrast were billed as world championships. As were maybe one or two others ?

There was even a world championship in the UK that Jack Parker won in 1931 was it ?

All so confusing. And i d think it shuld be left as it is and not revise things

As i posted elsewhere. If you look at my profile, there is an old poster advertising that World Champion Sprouts Elder was coming to Hamburg in 1930....

[poole keith 911]

The Royal engineers won the fa cup in 1875  shall we call them world club champions??

[iris123 20,985]

5 minutes ago, poole keith said:

The Royal engineers won the fa cup in 1875  shall we call them world club champions??

There was something on the international scene discussing that

https://medium.com/soccer-stories/before-the-world-cup-who-were-footballs-earliest-world-champions-8aebac11429a

Plus wasn't there an English club that won something called the world championship? Was it Bishop Stortford v Juventus or something.... 

[Ben91 1,743]

What’s the point of doing anything if years in the future the goal posts will be moved in hindsight.