Wimbledon's 1930s Three World Champions

[Guest]

The Wimbledon riders are 'Cyclone' Billy Lamont, Claude Rye and Vic Huxley:

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French staged World Championships - 1929-37:

at the Buffalo Stadium, Paris.

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1929 - 1 Charles Bellisent (France)
1930 - 1 Charles Bellisent (France)
1931 meeting 1 - 1.Billy Lamont (Australia)
1931 meeting 2 - 1.Vic Huxley (Australia)
1932 meeting 1 - 1.Jack Parker (England)
1932 meeting 2 - 1.Bluey Wilkinson (Australia), 2.Billy Lamont (Australia)
1933 - Claude Rye (England), 2.Leopold Killmeyer (Austria)
1934 meeting 1 - 1.Fernand Meynier (France), 2.Leopold Killmeyer (Austria)
1934 meeting 2 - 1.Jean Landru (France)
1935 - 1 - Billy Lamont (Australia), 2.Leopold Killmeyer (Austria)
1936 - 1 - Charles ‘Pee Wee’ Cullum (USA)
1937 - 1 - Martin Schneeweiss (Austria)

Edited January 2, 2016 by Guest

[britmet]

It was to be hoped that the myths that existed about these Paris meetings before internet research of the last 10 years or so clarified the situation would have been eliminated, but apparently not so.

Promoted by an Anglo-French consortium, the Paris championships ended in 1935 when the Wembley event was organised for '36 and replaced it.

Schneeweiss's 'claim-to-fame' championship of 1937 was the European Championship, (staged in Prague.)
The 1934 Paris World Championship programme made clear that its 1933 World Champ was Fernand Meynier., (scans of this have been posted on several websites in recent past years incl'g OTS,) also thus debunking the names given above prior to that meeting other than Lamont, - the '31 Champ - , and Wilkinson, - the '32 Champ, the first two.

There was no World Chmpshp in '29 & '30.

 

Many big-name meetings were regularly held in Paris, (incl'g European Championships staged there in '32-'34 inclusive, the winners being Meynier, 3x, and Bellisent, in '34,) for which the above listed names may well have been the winners - , but of the list, only Lamont (in '31) and Wilkinson could claim the World title.

[Guest]

Thank you BritMet for this update re the French-staged World Championships. Any chance of producing an actual list on here of 'the correct winners; rather than giving a Link please.

A key factor is - was there in the seasons given a recognised international body for the government/jurisdiction of speedway racing aka the FIM for instance? Was there not then the validity of the events surely deserve as much recognition as do other speedway championships staged in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

The information regarding the winners was compiled by Maciej Wegrzyn and published on the excellent SpeedwayPlus website on November 4, 2005.

The original can be viewed on site at http://www.speedwayplus.com/france.shtml

Edited July 10, 2015 by Guest

[Bavarian]

As Britmet already wrote, this ten years ago published list of the French staged world championships in Paris has long since been corrected.

 

All the correct and up-to-date info about the "Championnat du Monde de Dirt-Track" can be found on the excellent speedwaychampions website, here http://www.speedwaychampions.com/world-champions.php

 

 

These annual world championships in Paris were not officially sanctioned by the FICM. The Promoters each year invited a number of international riders for their world championship meetings, there were no qualifiers.

 

 

 

The five world championships (championnats du monde) held annually from 1931 to 1935

at the "Stade-Velodrome Buffalo" in Paris-Montrouge, were won by the following riders:

 

1931: Billy LAMONT (Australia)

 

1932: Arthur 'Bluey' WILKINSON (Australia)

 

1933: Fernand MEYNIER (France)

 

1934: Claude RYE (England)

 

1935: Claude RYE (England)

 

 

No more world championships were staged in France after 1935.

 

However, in July of 1936, the American Charles "PeeWee" Cullum won a big international meeting at the Buffalo Stadium in Paris, which replaced the former "championnat du monde". This was the "Grand Prix de Paris" and on this occasion, the only time this meeting was staged, the winner was awarded with the original world championship trophy.

The previous winners of the world championship were not allowed to keep the trophy, unless they won the championship three times, which no rider ever achieved.

 

So, in 1936, the promoters put the by now obsolete trophy up for grabs for the winner of the 1936 Grand Prix de Paris. The winner (Cullum) was allowed to keep it for good, since the world title was no longer contested in Paris.

Thus Cullum became the legitime owner of the world championship trophy, and took it home with him to the USA, even so he had never won this world championship.

 

For the record, the first three of the 1936 Grand Prix de Paris were:

Winner: Charles Cullum (USA)

Runner-up: Leon Boulard (France)

Third: Dicky Case (Australia)

[Guest]

How come then that Jack Parker was frequently quoted as saying he won a world championship in France in 1932 - obviously the meeting mentioned by Maciej Wegrzyn on the excellent SpeedwayPlus website on November 4, 2005.

[Bavarian]

Jack Parker finished fourth in that 1932 World Championship in Paris.

 

Parker had made his Paris Buffalo Stadium debut in April of 1932. He was invited back to Paris for several more meetings and he did ride in the 2nd annual staging of the World Championship, which was held on Sunday, August 28, 1932.

 

Eight riders contested the 1932 world title in Paris. They were drawn into four semi-final match races. Parker defeated Australia's Harry Bray in the first semi-final, and thus qualified for a series of six match races between each of the four semi-final winners. Others through to the final four were Bluey Wilkinson of Australia, Charles Bellissent of France, and Leopold Killmeyer of Austria.

 

Parker did not win one of his three match races and finished fourth overall. As Wilkinson, Bellissent and Killmeyer each had two wins and one loss, these three riders met in a race-off to decide the world champion. This was won by Wilkinson.

 

The results of the six match races and the run-off in this final series were as follows:

 

Premier match : 1. Wilkinson; 2. Parker.

Deuxième match : 1. Killmeyer; 2. Bellisent.

Troisième match : 1. Wilkinson; 2. Killmeyer.

Quatrième match : 1. Bellisent; 2. Parker.
Cinquième match : 1. Killmeyer; 2. Parker.

Sixième match : 1. Bellisent; 2. Wilkinson.

 

Run-Off: 1. Wilkinson, 2. Bellisent, 3. Killmeyer.

1. Bluey Wilkinson (Australia) 2-1

2. Charles Bellisent (France) 2-1

3. Leopold Killmeyer (Austria) 2-1

4. Jack Parker (England) 0-3

Edited July 10, 2015 by Bavarian

[barttore]

Hello interested members,

I think this is the most appropriate topic to ask my question.

Does anybody have info on a Dutchman Cornelis Johannes " John" Van Hulzen ? He was doing Speedway racing in 1932 on the Buffalo Velodrome and later at Woudestein in the Netherlands (near Rotterdam) and again in Paris in 1933.

I have been researching this man for quite a while now, mainly because of his car racing activities with Bugatti, but his Speedway activities are mostly still a mystery to me.

In an interview he claimed to be captain of the Buffalo Dirt track team. He also claimed that he rode in the Stan Greatrex team. But some of his claims have been proven to be " somewhat exaggerated".

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Bart

The Netherlands

[Guest]

With another thread running in regard to speedway world champions that BSF Posters have seen, perhaps its time to take another look at this thread where there are still several outstanding queries.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Guest