Portsmouth Speedway

[Mick Bratley]

I remember reading somewhere on this site a discussion about Portsmouth Speedway, I can’t find it now, unfortunately. However, I was talking to a guy on the phone today and we got talking about Speedway, he’d been to Swindon a few times before it closed and he told me about a poster for Portsmouth Speedway that he bought at a car boot sale for £8. He wanted to know was it worth anything, I told him I thought it was likely because I didn’t think Portsmouth ever had a team called Portsmouth and I remember reading on here that there was a series of challenge matches between, if I remember correctly, London based teams. Anyway, he frames pictures and he’s framed this poster, the link is below, I think it looks really cool.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFPMIZWHIQk/?igsh=ajgyOHBpMXQyaTF2

[bigdave]

According to the Speedway Researcher web site, Portsmouth mainly ran open meetings in 1929 & 1930 but they did have a team which raced in challenge matches home and away in 1930 but they weren't part of a League

[andout]

If this poster is original, you got a bargain, this would be worth much much more........well done!

[norbold]

The first speedway track to open in Portsmouth was in 1928 when a local man, Mr E I Jones, laid out a 440-yard track in a field, initially as a training track. The first proper meeting was held there on 15 July. A second followed on 29 July. This latter attracted a crowd of 2,000 people. But, sadly, that was the track's last meeting.

Speedway returned to Portsmouth the following year, 1929. Promoting pioneer, A J Hunting, had planned to open Wessex Stadium in 1928, but the stadium did not, in fact, open until 10 August 1929 under the auspices of Wessex Speedway Co, in conjunction with Dirt Track Speedways (the company behind West Ham and Southampton speedways). This was also a 440-yard track. Because of the tie-up with West Ham and Southampton, many of the riders appearing at the first meeting were contracted to those two clubs and included Sprouts Elder, who won the day's major event, the Golden Gauntlet, Tiger Stevenson, Ivor Creek and Buzz Hibberd.

The track continued to run a series of open meetings for the rest of August with riders of the quality of Frank Arthur and Bluey Wilkinson appearing. The last meeting that year was held on 31 August.

A new 382-yard track was laid for the following year, with the first proper meeting being held on 21 April 1930. The track ran a series of challenge matches with a team called Portsmouth which included Steve Langton, Tiger Hart, Bill Clibbett and Ted Bravery.

Plans to enter the Southern League in 1931 were aborted when the local council announced plans to build houses on the site. Although the plans to build houses never materialised, speedway was never again staged at Wessex Stadium. The last match ever staged there was between Portsmouth and West Ham on 2 October 1930, which ended in a 26-26 tie.

In 1935, Harringay promoter, Tom Bradbury-Pratt, built a 300-yard track inside Portsmouth Greyhound and Sports Stadium at Tipnor. Bradbury-Pratt was having trouble completing all of Harringay's home fixtures so he planned this new track to ease the pressure on their Green Lanes track. In the event, however, only one league match was raced there, on 2 October, when Hackney defeated Harringay 35-32 in a National League match. A week later, a challenge match was due to be held against Wembley, but it was rained off.

Speedway returned to the Tipnor track in 1937, when the Albatross Motorcycle Club promoted two meetings there, both challenge matches with Portsmouth taking on a team called Basingstoke and Reading.

Further attempts to reintroduce speedway to Portsmouth after the War were made, but they proved unsuccessful.

 

 

[Mick Bratley]

Thanks for the info, I’ve passed it on.