1937 Individual Speedway World Championship

Second official edition of the World motorcycle speedway championship

1937 Individual Speedway World Championship

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1938

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

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

* 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 |  Jack Milne | 83 | 13
2 |  Eric Langton | 78 | 12
3 |  Wilbur Lamoreaux | 74 | 12
4 |  Cordy Milne | 71 | 11
5 |  Eric Chitty | 70 | 11
6 |  Lionel Van Praag | 70 | 11
7 |  Jack Parker | 69 | 11
8 |  George Newton | 67 | 11
9 |  Frank Charles | 64 | 10
10 |  Ginger Lees | 61 | 10
11 |  Frank Varey | 51 | 8
12 |  Arthur Atkinson | 50 | 8
13 |  Joe Abbott | 49 | 8
14 |  Morian Hansen | 45 | 7
15 |  Bob Harrison | 45 | 7
16 |  Bill Kitchen | 45 | 7
| Pos.  | Rider  | Qual Points  | c/f

|
|
|

17 |  Tommy Croombs | 39 | 6
18 |  Alec Statham | 39 | 6
19 |  Stan Greatrex | 38 |
20 |  Ron Johnson | 37 |
21 |  Wally Kilmister | 35 |
22 |  Dicky Case | 34 |
23 |  Charlie Spinks | 33 |
24 |  Cliff Parkinson | 31 |
25 |  Jack Ormston | 30 |
26 |  Norman Evans | 28 |
27 |  Broncho Dixon (res) | 25 |
28 |  Eric Gregory | 24 |
29 |  Tiger Stevenson | 21 |
30 |  Tommy Price (res) | 20 |

## World final

[edit]

* 2 September 1937
* Wembley Stadium, London

Pos.  | Rider  | c/f Points  | Final Points  | Final Heats  | Total Points

|
|
|
|
|

1 |  Jack Milne | 13 | 15 | (3,3,3,3,3) | 28
2 |  Wilbur Lamoreaux | 12 | 13 | (3,3,3,1,3) | 25
3 |  Cordy Milne | 11 | 12 | (2,3,2,3,2) | 23
4 |  Jack Parker | 11 | 10 | (2,3,1,2,2) | 21
5 |  Ginger Lees | 10 | 9 | (1,1,2,2,3) | 19
6 |  Frank Charles | 10 | 7 | (0,0,1,3,3) | 17
7 |  Lionel Van Praag | 11 | 6 | (3,0,-,3,0) | 17
8 |  Bill Kitchen | 7 | 9 | (1,2,2,2,2) | 16
9 |  George Newton | 11 | 5 | (3,0,0,0,2) | 16
10 |  Eric Langton | 12 | 4 | (1,0,0,3,0) | 16
11 |  Morian Hansen | 7 | 8 | (1,2,3,1,1) | 15
12 |  Eric Chitty | 11 | 4 | (0,2,0,1,1) | 15
13 |  Joe Abbott | 8 | 6 | (2,1,1,2,0) | 14
14 |  Arthur Atkinson | 8 | 6 | (2,0,2,1,1) | 14
15 |  Frank Varey | 8 | 3 | (0,1,1,0,1) | 11
16 |  Tommy Croombs (res) | 6 | 2 | (0,2,0,0,0) | 8
17 |  Bob Harrison | 7 | - | - | 7
18 |  Alec Statham (res) | 6 | 0 | (0) | 6

## References

[edit]

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.

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See also|

* Medalists
* Medal Classification
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