Speedway Champions

  

    Click thumbnail for full-size tables.


     A British championship series was first staged in 2005 following Stateside trips by Peter Boast, former Boston and Mildenhall speedway rider and some-time IoM, Motocross, Ice racer and all-round biker, where he took part in AMA Pro Dirt Track events. Operating initially under the banner of 'Short Track UK', “ home of British Flat Track Racing”, the competition is typically staged as a 6–8 round series on Short Track (< 400m), ½ Mile and TT Steeplechase dirt circuits, the majority being Short-Track at existing league-speedway venues.
     An 'Open' championship, - riders from Holland, Germay and elsewhere in Europe as well as from the States compete intermittently - , Italy's Marco Belli (below Lft,)was successful in 3 of the first 4 Pro Class championships but Aidan Collins, one-time Glasgow Tiger and Workington Comets rider, son of speedway's former World No.2 Les Collins, has amassed 5 titles plus 5 further podium places in the 450cc bike class on a Honda under both STUK and DTRA promotions. (The Dirt track Riders Association took over the National Championship in 2013, with licensing by MCF, - the Motor Cycle Federation.)  Over the the next 10 years the Birtwistle brothers, Alan and Gary, have each had back-to-back Pro-class wins, plus a Hooligan pair.
     In the Thunderbike class (for the big >600cc bikes and twins, where Harley Davidson XR-750's comprise most of the field,) initiator Peter Boast (below Rt,) on his big 650cc Suzuki took 3 consecutive STUK titles in 2007-'09 plus the Peterborough-staged ACU British Short Track Championships of 2008 and '09. (n.b: Several other classes, incl'g juniors and 4 with ACU status, are often included in race meetings: other than where stated, this website addresses Pro class results, plus the big twins where they predominate, i.e. in US and Canada.) 
     The wins of Collins, Birtwistle and Boast have resulted in Honda (in the PRO class) and Suzuki (in both PRO and Thunderbike classes) being the most successful machinery manufacturers.
  (n.b:  For British 'Hooligan' events, see section below, under 'North America' - Hooligan.)
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                     Marco Belli                                                                                Peter Boast
           

     At around the same time as the British ST title was being introduced, a European Short Track Championship was also being staged, structured around Dutch tracks and its riders. By 2007 British riders were taking part, but without exception, Dutchmen not only took the trophy but filled all the rostrum places, Andries Fabriek appearing there 4 times in 6 years.
    In parallel with this, a Germanic but wider-based 'International Flattrack Cup', was also established, supported by ADAC and later by Mefo Sport, and including riders from, and venues in, Italy, Britain, Austria and Czech Republic. Brits regularly appeared on the year-end podium in the later years, Peter Boast taking the de-facto title of European Flattrack Champion in 2009.
    This Flattrack Cup was upgraded in 2012 by the granting of FIM recognition, to become the 'FIM Flat Track Cup', a World Championship in all but name, (but note title on #1 plate in Cecchini's photo, below.) Reduced to 3 rounds, - in Czechia, Italy and France: an intended staging at Rye House in 2017 was cancelled - , the title was dominated by Italians, Francesco Cecchini being a 6x winner with consecutive successes between 2014 and 2019 on his TM 450Fi. In 2020 the event was finally
given World Championship status. Finland's Lasse Kurvinen was its first double winner,
       

                       

     Sweden: 2018 saw the first national Swedish Flat track event when it staged its 'Swedish  Flat Track Cup.'   Staged over 4 rounds, (a planned 5th at Huddinge was cancelled), the winner was Mikko Koskinen, having topped the podium at all but one of them. The Fin took the

   


  Australia
   Although national authority MA has recognised state and national

    In Southern Africa, 'Dirt Track' championship competitions were run on oval dirt circuits as early as the 1960s, though detail is limited. In South Africa, on unafilliated tracks, it is known that Grant Foley was a 4x winner of an SA Flat Track Championship in the early '80s.  Other winners, in what may have been further alternative unofficial FT Championships, included Malcolm Cochrane at Dunswaart, double winner Cedric Stowe at Kings Park, Durban, and David Steen, who took the title in 1988 after being runner-up to Stowe in the preceding year, (photo Rt: Stowe & Steen in 1987.)
    In Rhodesia, a decade before the return of speedway to the African colony in '71, national 'Dirt Track' championships of the 1960s were staged mainly, if not always, at the Lawson oval outside of Salisbury, (today's Harare,) continuing through to the '70s.  By 1961 12-year-old Peter Prinsloo had accumulated a host of trophies including the 150cc class DT National Championship on a BSA Bantam. But it was older brother Chris Prinsloo that dominated the senior class on a 500cc Gold Star, “winning practically every Rhodesian DT championship from 1960 until 1976”. 1974 was one exception, when Zak Koekemoer took the title after being runner-up on 8 previous occasions, while Peter Prinsloo took the title just once, prior to taking up speedway in 1971.
    The Prinsloo Family trophies, c.1964: Peter LHS, Chris RHS          Peter & Chris Prinsloo at Lawson Oval almost a decade later.

USA:  AMA  Flat Track Championship

    The world’s top dirt-track championship is the AMA Pro Grand National Championship* that takes place in the United States. A multi-round, multi-discipline competition, all dirt-track divisions are included: mile, half-mile, short-track and TT. (n.b: Winning the “Grand Slam” trophy means that a single rider has also won a race counting towards the American Road Racing championship (on tarmac) as well as the 4 dirt track divisions.) The sport's principal steward is 'American Flat Track', a division of AMA Pro Racing, (which in turn is a subsidiary of Daytona Motorsports Group, DMG.)
     Started in 1946, (its pre-war forerunner was the 'Dirt track Championship',) the GNC was originally a single-event 25 lap competition held at the 1 mile trotting track, the 'Springfield Mile', in Illinois, which was expanded in the mid-'50s to include a range of dirt circuit lengths plus tarmac circuits. The latter were dropped from the championship and a TT Steeplechase division added to introduce a right-handed bend and jumps.
    AMA became FIM-affiliated in 1970, the GNC being validated in 1975. In the decade from 2006 a number of changes were made, concerning Twins and Singles, - see table notes. In 2017, having re-branded itself as 'American Flat Track', (AFT,) and with a new re-designated championship title of * 'USA Flat Track Series', the premier title award is based on Twins only. In 2018 the championship comprises 8 Mile events, 4 Half-Mile, 1 Short Track and 2 TT events.
 
                      Typical scene from an AMA 1-Mile Flat Track race
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    Harley-Davidsons and Indians monopolized the winners list from 1947, (Jimmy Chann on a HD was the first triple champ,) until British bikes, - Matchless, Triumph, BSA - , were fielded in the '60s, to be usurped in turn by Japanese machines in the '70s. Kenny Roberts, a future Motorcycle Grand Prix world champion, - , America's first, and one of only 4 riders to win an AMA Grand Slam - , started his illustrious career on the dirt tracks with wins for Yamaha in 1973 and '74, whilst Honda were successful in the '80s.
    But in the '90s, after Road racing had been dropped from the GNC, only once between 1988 and 2015 have Harleys not taken the crown where eligible: Scott Parker was a 9x winner in 11 years of that period. As the millennium turned, Chris Carr, with a “horses-for-courses” policy, supplemented his Harley with Rotax, ATKs and KTMs for the differing divisions to claim 6 GNCs to add to his first success 10 years earlier.
    Current champion Jared Mees, (also a former multi- Short track Ice Speedway champ: see Ice Spplmt 5,) after 4 wins on a Harley-Davidson, was swept up by the newly resurgent Indian company for its re-entrance on to the AMA scene, ( the company had gone bankrupt in 1953,) and mounted on a Scout FTR750 in 2017 gave the Minnesota-based business its first champion in over 60 years. Mees' tally now runs to 9 Pro-750 wins.

The Mile: A race held on an oval-shaped dirt course approximately one mile in length.
(These races became popular because of the availability of horse racing venues around the USA, and are typically held during the off-season for horse racing. They usually favour motorcycles with larger engine displacements such as the Harley-Davidson XR-750.)
The Half Mile: An event similar to a mile race, also held on an oval-shaped dirt course with a shorter lap distance.   (Despite the distance, tracks may vary in length, because they are often held on the same venues that hold car events.)
Short Track: A race held on an oval-shaped dirt course approximately a quarter mile or less in length.
(As well as on British-type speedway tracks these tight courses have been held indoors at venues such as the Houston Astrodome and favour lighter motorcycles based on two-stroke motocross machinery.)
TT Steeplechase: A race held on an irregularly shaped dirt course which usually features one right hand turn and one jump.  (This event also favours lighter motorcycles, but larger motorcycles have also been successful.)
Road Race: A race held on paved, purpose-built race tracks. (A former GNC division, NOT included since 1986. The most famous event on the AMA calendar is the Daytona 200.)