Post by administrator on Dec 30, 2012 23:45:17 GMT 1
DETAILS of the 1936 season are sketchy, and in regard to research on the year I am grateful to fellow historian Derek Bridgett, the author of the respected "Midget Car Speedway" (Tempus).
Most of the action took place at Barnet and Dagenham, with a few races also taking place at High Beech, Wembley, Southampton, Belle Vue, Bristol and Hackney. But it appears most of the midget car races were in the second-half of motorcycle speedway meetings.
At Belle Vue, where racing had taken place during 1935, the promoter Eric Spence was pressing ahead with development of the formula mainly though the manufacture of replica American Elto midget cars. These were being built by Les Hulme at his Manchester workshops.
The sketchy details for the 1936 Belle Vue season show these results:
April 25 - Bill kitchen won the main event from Stanley 'Acorn' Dobson.
May 2 - Kitchen was again winner of the main event, this time Dobson went out of the race after he crashed into the safety fence. Another midget car race winner was Frank Marsh.
May 9 - Bruce Warburton won the main event with Eric Worswick second.
May 23 - Worswick defeated Kitchen in the main event with a time of 85.6 seconds for four laps. This was established as the target figure for all drivers to try and improve upon.
August 3 - Fred Alexander matched the time of 85.6secs in winning a race. Warburton won another heat.
Sept 19 - Arthur Marcus sustained shock and bruises when he crashed. The main winner was Worswick.
Sept 26 - Worswick again took the victory.
Oct 3 - Marcus won from Dobson.
Oct 17 - Kitchen won the race from Worswick.
At Wembley on August 17, Harry Skirrow was taken to hospital where he spent four days after crashing in a match race against Billy Murden.
At Southampton on September 1, Gordon Handy and Putt Mossman (USA) dead-heated in a match race.
Ron Wills defeated Tommy Sulman 2-1 in a best of three match race series at Bristol on October 16.
Also in October, Billy Murden fractured an arm when he crashed during a race at Dagenham.
(c) Derek Bridgett/John Hyam 2009