Gerrit Kops From Holland

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THE first rider from Holland - the Land of Windmills - to attract the interest of a British club was their 1938 champion Gerrit Kops, who signed for Sheffield in late August 1939. The week he was due to have trials at Owlerton coincided with the outbreak of Word War Two on September 3. Hence no British debut for Mr Kops.

His first appearance in Britain came in 1947 when he was in a Dutch side that competed in a testimonial match at Tamworth. It was staged to raise funds for the dependents of Tamworth rider Jack Ladd, who died after an accident in Holland earlier that season. The Dutch riders paid their own expenses to England and all donated their prize money to the fund for Ladd's dependents.

Kops only other British track appearance - if you can call it that - ironically was at Sheffield in 1949, He was a starter for a World Championship qualifying round. Sadly, in his first race his bike's engine ‘blew up’ on the starting grid and he was out of the meeting,

Most of Kops’ trackwork from 1936 into the early 1960s was centred on Holland, Germany and Poland. He raced, as do most Europeans, on speedway, grass and long-tracks. In the last years of his track career Kops also took part in midget car racing in Holland.

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Gerrit Kops was Holland's grass track and speedway champion in 1938. He was still racing in the early 1960s.