Bill Kitchen (speedway rider)
William (Bill) Kitchen (7 December 1908 in Galgate, Lancashire, England – May 1994) was an international speedway rider who started his career with the Belle Vue Aces in 1933.[1]
Born | Galgate, England | 7 December 1908
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Died | May 1994 (aged 85) |
Nationality | |
Current club information | |
Career status | Retired |
Career history | |
1933–1939 | Belle Vue Aces |
1946–1954 | Wembley Lions |
Individual honours | |
1940 | Northern Riders' Champion |
1950 | Australian Champion (3 Lap) |
Team honours | |
1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953 | National League Champion |
1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1948 | National Trophy Winner |
1934, 1935, 1936, 1937 | A.C.U. Cup Winner |
1939, 1947 | British Speedway Cup winner |
1948, 1949, 1950, 1951 | London Cup winner |
|
Career summary
Before he started speedway Kitchen was a prominent road trials rider and had taken part in the Isle of Man TT.[2]
His pre-war career was with Belle Vue. In 1946 he became captain of the Wembley Lions and finished second in the British Speedway Championship.[2] He finished fifth in the Speedway World Championship in 1939.[3]
Kitchen was a member of a National League winning team eleven times in twenty years, a feat made even more exceptional given the fact that the outbreak of World War II cost his Belle Vue team the chance of earning Kitchen a twelfth title (the Aces were top of the league when it was abandoned), and the fact that the competition was suspended a further six seasons during the war.
Kitchen was also a regular England international with over forty appearances after the war as well as over thirty pre-war caps.
In 1950, Bill Kitchen won the Australian 3 Lap Championship at the Tracey's Speedway in Melbourne.
After retirement, Bill ran a motor spares shop bearing his own name, in Station Road Harrow until at least the 1980s.
World Final appearances
- 1937 -
London, Wembley Stadium - 8th - 9pts + 7 semi-final points - 1938 -
London, Wembley Stadium - 5th - 9pts + 6 semi-final points - 1949 -
London, Wembley Stadium - 6th - 9pts
References
- Addison J. (1948). The People Speedway Guide. Odhams Press Limited
- Morgan, Tom (1947) The People Speedway Guide, Odhams Press, p. 76
- Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5