South African Star Doug Daviest

[Miserable Old Git]

This famous old rider who I believe has now passed away, was the topic of a quiz question at the Birmingham Speedway Supporters Club Xmas Party. I recall that he went on to ride for the Aces at Hyde Road after his Birmingham days perhaps late 60s or early 70s. Any old Aces fans remember this fact and can shed more light on the facts??

[SHALEWAY69]

This famous old rider who I believe has now passed away, was the topic of a quiz question at the Birmingham Speedway Supporters Club Xmas Party. I recall that he went on to ride for the Aces at Hyde Road after his Birmingham days perhaps late 60s or early 70s. Any old Aces fans remember this fact and can shed more light on the facts??

Doug rode for New Cross in 1961 but I cannot recall him riding for Belle Vue

 

[iris123]

Doug rode for New Cross in 1961 but I cannot recall him riding for Belle Vue

Wasn't it Doug Serrurier(sp?) who rode for the Aces or am i getting riders mixed up?

[Mimmo]

This famous old rider who I believe has now passed away, was the topic of a quiz question at the Birmingham Speedway Supporters Club Xmas Party. I recall that he went on to ride for the Aces at Hyde Road after his Birmingham days perhaps late 60s or early 70s. Any old Aces fans remember this fact and can shed more light on the facts??

 

 

He rode for Birmingham in 1954, 1955 & 1956 and New Cross in 1961, but never rode for any other British club.

[peatbog]

See this http://www.speedwayplus.com/pdf/1950sample.pdf it's down the page

[britmet]

We're getting our decades crossed, I think.

After B'ham's closure mid-'57 Doug Davies returned to UK racing for NX in 1961, but as a) NX closed and b. S.Africa was thrown out of the Commonwealth, (so any SA rider was a 'foreign rider',) Doug didn't return. He was the SA Open Champion in 1961 and SA National Champ in 1962. He died in the early years of this decade.

Doug Serrurier was one of 5 speedway-racing brothers who all rode together for East Rand Eagles in the Transvaal League during the '49/'50 SA season. He came over to UK to ride for Liverpool in 1949 & '50 seasons, scoring 241pts and 158pts resp'ly. Younger brother Bob Serrurier was SA National Champion of 1951. No doubt on the strength of that he appears in an Aces team photo of '51, but the record books attribute a solitary point to him for that, his only season. - ? (A premature rerurn home ?)

S.Africa's best rider in the UK at this time was Henry Long, winner of 6 SA Chmpshps between 1952 and '59, ( 3 Nationals, 2 Opens and one SA Handicap Chmpnshp) as well as holding the SA Match Race Championship during 1952. He rode for the Aces between '49 and '52.

The last SA rider of this period was Howdy Cornell, who Trevor Redmond persuaded to join him at the ill-fated Neath operation of 1962 in the Provincial Lge. Apartheid and the bans that came in one-by-one across many fields, not just sport, closed off South Africa for many years.