John Louis (speedway rider)

John "Tiger" Louis (born 14 June 1941)[1] is an England international Motorcycle speedway rider[2] who rode for Ipswich, Newport, West Ham, Oxford, Wembley, Halifax and King's Lynn during his career. He is the father of Great Britain International Chris Louis.

This article is about the Speedway rider and promoter. For the businessman and US ambassador, see John J. Louis, Jr. For the British admiral, see Sir John Louis, 2nd Baronet.

John Louis

Born	(1941-06-14) 14 June 1941 Ipswich, England
Nickname	Tiger
Nationality	England
Current club information
Career status	retired
Career history
1970–80	Ipswich Witches
1970	Newport Wasps
1970	West Ham Hammers
1971	Oxford Cheetahs
1971	Wembley Lions
1981–82	Halifax Dukes
1983–84	King's Lynn Stars
Individual honours
1971	British League Div II Riders' Champion
1975	British Champion
1976	Southern Riders' Champion
1979	British League Riders' Champion
1971, 1978, 1979	Second City Trophy
1972, 1979	Star of Anglia
1974	Superama
1975	Pride of the East
1975, 1978	Golden Sovereign
1975	Golden Gauntlets
Team honours
1970, 1971	British League Div II KO Cup winner
1972, 1974, 1975	World Team Cup Winner
1975, 1976	British League Champion
1976, 1978	British League KO Cup winner
1976	World Pairs Champion
1976, 1977	British League Pairs Champion
1976	Spring Gold Cup

Career history

Ipswich born Louis started his motorcycling career in scrambling and was tempted to have a go at speedway when Ipswich re-opened in 1969. He made his debut in 1970 and by the following year topped the national Second Division averages. In 1972 Ipswich gained admission to the top flight by purchasing West Ham's licence and Louis spearheaded the Witches team, making his World Final debut at London's Wembley Stadium in 1972, finishing in 5th place.

Louis finished fourth at the 1974 World Final at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden and improved to third in the 1975 World Final at Wembley - becoming the first British rider to stand on the World Championship podium since Peter Craven in 1962. Louis was part of the Great Britain Speedway World Team Cup winning team of 1972 and England's 1974 and 1975 winning teams.

John Louis was World Pairs Champion in 1976 with Malcolm Simmons and finished sixth in his last World Final appearance in Poland. He also captained Ipswich to the British League title in 1975 and 1976. Louis was also the British Champion in 1975 (Chris Louis would win the British Championship in 1998 and 2000 making them the first father-son to do so).

He was British League Division Two Riders Champion in 1971 and British League Riders Champion in 1979. In 1981 Louis joined Halifax, spending two seasons at The Shay before signing for a season at King's Lynn in 1983. He retired from riding in 1984 and is now the promoter of the Ipswich Witches.

He retired as the promoter of Ipswich in 2019.

World Final Appearances

Individual World Championship

• 1972 – London, Wembley Stadium – 5th – 11pts
• 1974 – Gothenburg, Ullevi – 4th – 9pts
• 1975 – London, Wembley Stadium – 3rd – 12pts + 3pts
• 1976 – Chorzów, Silesian Stadium – 6th – 9pts

World Pairs Championship

• 1975 – Wrocław, Olympic Stadium (with Peter Collins) – 4th – 20pts (13)
• 1976 – Eskilstuna, Eskilstuna Motorstadion (with Malcolm Simmons) – Winner – 27pts (17)

World Team Cup

• 1972* – Olching, Olching Speedwaybahn (with Ivan Mauger / Ray Wilson / Terry Betts) Winner – 36pts (9)
• 1974 – Chorzów, Silesian Stadium (with Peter Collins / Malcolm Simmons / Dave Jessup) Winner – 42pts (12)
• 1975 – Norden, Motodrom Halbemond (with Malcolm Simmons / Martin Ashby / Peter Collins) – Winner – 41pts (8)

* 1972 for Great Britain. All others for England.

References

1. Oakes, P.(2004). British Speedway Who's Who. ISBN 0-948882-81-6
2. Lawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. ISBN 978-0-244-72538-9

External links

• John Louis – Celebrating 40 years in speedway