Born | Perth, Western Australia | 4 April 1927
---|---|
Nickname | Chum Taylor |
Nationality | Australian |
Career history | |
1951-1952 | Ashfield Giants |
1951-1953 | Cardiff Dragons |
1953-1954 | Bristol Bulldogs |
1953 | Swindon Robins |
1958-1961 | Southampton Saints |
1963 | Oxford Cheetahs |
1964 | Poole Pirates |
1966 | Cradley Heathens |
Individual honours | |
1958, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1970 | Western Australia Champion |
1966 | Australian Champion |
Team honours | |
1954 | National League Div 2 Champion |
1954 | Southern Shield Winner |
1961 | National League KO Cup Winner |
1961 | National Trophy Winner |
1964 | Provincial Southern League Winner |
Edwin Vernon Thomas Taylor (born 4 April 1927) is a retired Australian motorcycle speedway rider who won the Australian Individual Speedway Championship in 1966. He was known as Chum Taylor by the press and speedway public. [1] He earned 28 international caps for the Australia national speedway team and one cap for the Great Britain national speedway team. [2]
Born in Perth, Western Australia, Taylor received the nickname 'Chum' after his grandmother's comment of "oh, my little chum!" on first seeing him when he was a day old. [3] He competed as an amateur jockey and worked as a cooper at the Swan brewery near his home, which allowed him to buy his first motorcycle. [3] After trying road racing and scrambling, Taylor began his speedway career at the Claremont Speedway in 1948. [3] Early success led to an offer to ride for the Ashfield Giants in the United Kingdom, going on to ride for Cardiff Dragons for two seasons. [3] He raced in Britain for several teams from 1951 to 1966 including Ashfield Giants (1951), Cardiff Dragons (1951-2), Bristol Bulldogs (1953), Southampton Saints (1958-1961), Oxford Cheetahs (1963), Poole Pirates (1964) and Cradley Heath Heathens in 1966. [4]
He represented Australia in the World Final in 1960, finishing in 11th place. He won the Western Australia Championship on a record five occasions (1958, 1962, 1963, 1968, and 1970), all at Claremont, and won the Australian Solo Championship in January 1966 at the Rowley Park Speedway in Adelaide. [3] [5]
Taylor represented Australia (and Australasia) several times at international level, first in 1958 in the second Test against England and again in 1959, 1960, 1967/68, 1969/70, 1970/71 (a series in which he captained the team), 1971/72, 1972/3, and for a final time in 1973, a series in which his son Glyn also rode. [6] [7] Glyn Taylor would go on to emulate his father by winning the WA State title in 1982 and 1983.
He retired from racing in 1973 at the age of 46 after a crash in a second half race at Crewe in which he broke his shoulder blade. [4] The Chum Taylor Cup is contested annually in his honour at the Pinjar Park Speedway north of Perth. [8]
Chum Taylor's autobiography, A Dangerous Life, was published in 1986.
In November 2013 he was inducted into the Motorcycling Western Australia Hall of Fame. [3]
Pinjar is a rural locality in Perth, Western Australia. Its local government area is the City of Wanneroo.
Ove Fundin is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1951 to 1970. Fundin is notable for winning the Speedway World Championship Final five times, a record bettered only by Ivan Mauger and fellow Swede Tony Rickardsson who each won six World Championships. He finished runner-up in the championship 3 times (1957–59) and was third in 1962, 1964 and 1965 meaning that from his first win in 1956 until his last in 1967, Fundin did not finish lower than a podium place in a record eleven World Finals. He was known by the nickname of the "Flying Fox" or just "the Fox" because of his red hair. In 2013, Fundin was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements.
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The Western Australian Individual Speedway Championship is a Motorcycle speedway championship held annually in Western Australia to determine the WA State champion. The event is organised by the Speedway Motorcycle Club of WA and is sanctioned by Motorcycling Australia (MA).
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Glyn Clifford Taylor is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider, who went on to a career building and curating speedway tracks, tuning engines, and in speedway promotion and team management.
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The Claremont Speedway was a racing circuit in the grounds of the Claremont Showground in the suburb of Claremont in Western Australia's capital city of Perth. The speedway held its first meeting on 14 May 1927, and its final meeting on 31 March 2000.
The 1982 Australian Individual Speedway Championship was held at the Claremont Speedway in Perth, Western Australia on 15 January 1982. Sydney rider Billy Sanders won his fourth Australian Championship and his third in a row. Sanders and fellow Sydney rider Gary Guglielmi finished the meeting on 14 points, with Sanders winning a runoff to claim the title. Local Perth rider Glyn Taylor, the son of 1966 Australian champion Chum Taylor, finished third on 11 points.