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by | Mar 16, 2018 | Hosta

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William 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] He earned 41 international caps for the England national speedway team.[2]

Career summary

Before he started speedway Kitchen was a prominent road trials rider and had taken part in the Isle of Man TT.[3]

His pre-war career was with Belle Vue.[4]

After the war he rode in various meeting during late 1945[5] before becoming the captain of the Wembley Lions in 1946 and finished second in the British Speedway Championship.[3] He finished fifth in the Speedway World Championship in 1938.[6]

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 a regular England international with 41 appearances for the national team. 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 - England London, Wembley Stadium - 8th - 9pts + 7 semi-final points
  • 1938 - England London, Wembley Stadium - 5th - 9pts + 6 semi-final points
  • 1949 - England London, Wembley Stadium - 6th - 9pts

Players cigarette cards

Kitchen is listed as number 24 of 50 in the 1930s Player's cigarette card collection.[7]

References

  1. ^ Addison J. (1948). The People Speedway Guide. Odhams Press Limited
  2. ^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b Morgan, Tom (1947) The People Speedway Guide, Odhams Press, p. 76
  4. ^ "Rider averages 1929 to 2009" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  5. ^ "Bill Kitchen wins speedway helmet". Newcastle Journal. 10 October 1945. Retrieved 5 January 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5
  7. ^ "Speedway Riders". Speedway Museum Online. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
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