Reg 'Crash' Kavanagh

[BL65]

The famous Irish stuntman Reg Kavanagh is known to have appeared on the speedway track at Leeds in 1932. In his biography it is claimed that he was quite a dirt-track star in Australia in 1927-28 before travelling to England in time to watch the first meeting at High Beech. He is said to have been an associate of Billy Galloway and Col Stewart. I have not yet found any record of Kavanagh racing in Australia. 

Another claim is that he rode at West Ham in 1928, winning many races. I have found no record of him riding at any track in Britain in 1928, or 1929. West Ham did not open until late July in 1928, so what was Kavanagh doing until then?

Next, it is said that Kavanagh was also a big name on tracks in Europe, particularly in Germany, where he won a championship and set records. I have no details regarding these achievements.

Back in Ireland he agreed to take over the running of Chapelizod Speedway in 1951 but resigned after a week.

Does anyone have any information on the speedway exploits of Reg Kavanagh?

[norbold]

In a post back in 2011, our old friend, speedyguy, said that he, with the co-operation of Tiger Owl, had completed a list of all riders who rode for London teams in 1930 on his London Speedways site. Reg Kavanagh is shown as riding for West Ham.

I have to say though, that, like you, I have not come across him as ever riding for West Ham.

[Bavarian]

Reg Kavanagh did ride in Germany in 1930, but he was not very successful and he certainly wasn't a star attraction when he appeared in dirt-track events at Cologne, Essen and Dortmund in April and May of that year. 

I am not aware of Reg Kavanagh ever winning a championship or setting a track record anywhere here in Germany, but my records for that period of German speedway are incomplete.

All I could find was one rather lucky win for him in the final of a handicap race at Cologne on May 4, 1930, in an event spoilt by bike problems and falls, when the race leader Joseph Herzogenrath fell on the last lap. And Kavanagh once rode in a track record attempt, unsuccesfully, at the first international meeting held at Dortmund on Sunday, May 25, 1930. His four laps time of 1:49.8 was 14! seconds slower than Walter Buttler's new record of 1:35.0 who shattered the existing record of 1:38.8 held by Herbert Drews of Danzig.

 

For the first time Reg Kavanagh's name shows up in my German dirt-track records on April 19, 1930 (Easter Sunday) in the inaugural meeting at Essen, where he was one of seven foreign riders. The names of the others are Tom and Jack Middlehurst, S.L. Robinson, Harry Gresty (?), Pat O'Hara, and "the Australian" Shuttleworth. This meeting attracted a 5,000 crowd. German Fred Buttler set a four lap record of 1:29.0, Robinson of England was second fastest. There were several competitions, the Inauguration Trophy, Prize of Essen (both were won by Peter Schiffer of Cologne) and the Golden Glove, plus a couple of and match races (Harry Herzogenrath of Cologne beat Shuttleworth 2-0 while Fred Buttler of Hamborn and Middlehurst tied 1-all). Kavanagh was one of the four finalists in the "Golden Glove" event, which was won by Tom Middlehurst (England), ahead of Harry Herzogenrath (Cologne), with Peter Schiffer the other finalist. 

On the next day, Easter Monday, Kavanagh rode in Cologne, where Slider Shuttleworth was the big star and the darling of the Cologne crowd. Shuttleworth won the track record attempt over four laps in 1:25.0 and also won the scratch race final, ahead of Robinson (England). Shuttleworth was only beaten in the handicap final, he started from 70m behind the scratch mark. That race was won by the Hans Müller of Hamburg (20m handicap), with Shuttleworth second and Reg Kavanagh (20m handicap) third.   

Reg Kavanagh rode in a couple of unofficial "Internationals" here in Germany. On Friday, May 2, 1930, in the third meeting of the season at Cologne, he was in the England team that lost 6-25 against the German team, that consisted of Harry Herzogenrath, Joseph Herzogenrath, Schauer, Schiffer, Wenzel and Schaaf. England rode with Shuttleworth, Kavanagh, O'Hara, T.Middlehurt, J.Middlehurst and Robinson (individual riders' point scores unknown).

Two day's later on Sunday, May 4, 1930, that same England team was again beaten by a German team in another meeting at the Essen track, this time they lost the contest by 19 points to 12.

Interestingly in a meeting at Dortmund on May 25, 1930, Reg Kavanagh and Pat O'Hara teamed up and representeed Ireland in an unofficial international match against Germany. The two German riders chosen as their opposition were not among the leading German riders at the time, but only middle-order men. They were Johannes "Hannes" Wunder of Hamburg, who was the better of the two, and Anton "Toni" Jenau of Bochum. It was a contest over three heats (4,3,2,1 points) and for the record Germany won by 19 points to 11.

These are the match details:

Heat 1: Wunder, Jenau, O'Hara, Kavanagh.

Heat 2: Wunder, O'Hara, Kavanagh (fell remounted), Jenau (fell).

Heat 3: Wunder, Jenau, O'Hara, Kavanagh.

GERMANY 19

Johannes Wunder 4, 4, 4 = 12

Anton Jenau 3, 1, 3 = 7

IRELAND 11

Reg Kavanagh 1, 2, 1 = 4

Pat O'Hara 2, 3, 2 = 7

 

The last time I find Reg Kavanagh's name in a race report here in Germany is for a meeting at Cologne on Thursday, May 29. He won one of the three heat races in the contest for the "Blue Ribbon of the Rhine" but came last in his semi-final race behind Werner Schauer (Lüneburg) and Max Plambeck (Hamburg). Schauer went on to win the final. 

That's all I have on Reg Kavanagh's dirt-track exploits of 1930 in Germany.   

 

 

 

[BL65]

On 9/6/2024 at 3:26 PM, norbold said:

In a post back in 2011, our old friend, speedyguy, said that he, with the co-operation of Tiger Owl, had completed a list of all riders who rode for London teams in 1930 on his London Speedways site. Reg Kavanagh is shown as riding for West Ham.

I have to say though, that, like you, I have not come across him as ever riding for West Ham.

Many thanks for the information, I imagine John obtained the reference to Reg from Tiger Owl.

[BL65]

3 hours ago, Bavarian said:

That's all I have on Reg Kavanagh's dirt-track exploits of 1930 in Germany.   

Thank you very much indeed for the information.