Les_McGillivray

Les McGillivray

Les McGillivray

British motorcycle speedway rider

Leslie McGillivray (1 October 1929 – July 1977) was an international motorcycle speedway rider from England. He earned two international caps for the England national speedway team.[1]

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Biography

McGillivray, born in Islington, began his British leagues career riding for Rayleigh Rockets during the 1949 Speedway National League Division Three season, where he made an immediate impact topping the team averages.[2] He was a regular for the team for nine years from 1949 until 1957.[3] During his time at Rayleigh, he helped the team win two consecutive league titles, after they secured the Southern League in both 1952 and 1953.[4]

His first taste of top league racing was riding a handful of meetings for Wimbledon Dons in 1955, while he was still a Rayleigh rider. He contributed towards the league title success with a 5.33 average.[5] When Rayleigh dropped out of the league he joined Poole Pirates for two seasons becoming their club captain.[6] He signed for Ipswich Witches in 1960 and was still with them until the team dropped out of the league in 1962. He spent the remainder of the season with Coventry Bees.[7]

In 1963, he returned to his old club Rayleigh, topping the club's averages again before joining Hackney Hawks in 1964. On the formation of the British League in 1965, he stayed with Hackney.[8] After seven seasons in total with Hackney, where he was club captain for a period, he retired from speedway after the 1970 season.

References

  1. [1]
    "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  2. [2]
    "1949 fixtures". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  3. [3]
    "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  4. [4]
    Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  5. [5]
    "Rider averages 1929 to 2009" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  6. [6]
    "Speedway". Cornish Guardian. 14 August 1958. Retrieved 21 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. [7]
    "McGillivray to ride for Bees". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 3 August 1962. Retrieved 21 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. [8]
    "Les McGillivray". WWOS backup. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
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