Catterick Army Camp

No 8 has either fallen or is praying to Allah! A good photo showing Catterick Camps spectators, all in their army uniforms.

If anyone can remember the day at Catterick and can name anyone who took part send an email to Keith the website's owner email

2 More Pictures
From Catterick 1950

Two more photos from Catterick, an interesting team shot and a fine action photo.

An article in “Track Record”, the quarterly magazine of the Veteran Cycle Speedway Riders Association, has reconfirmed that the above photograph is of one of the heats in Catterick Lions’ victory over Bradford’s Frizinghall Aces during their visit to the city in October 1950. The score was 52-44 and the track was in Shipley, in the northern part of Bradford.

Doug Wotton

South Shields' Les Gustafson has provided the above photo of Doug Wotton after he returned home after his National Service. He was riding for Bristol Whitby Lions in 1952 when he was presented with the trophy for being the Somerset Champion. Doug Wotton is credited with the Catterick track record – 52.2 seconds. For a 73-yard track (according to old match reports) this appears on the slow side (race timings at Temple Park were about 50 seconds for a 90-yard track, for example), but the clue may come from reports that the track was surfaced with cinders from the Camp’s boiler house, and may have been much deeper than modern-day circuits.

Les Gustafson has also provided more information about the Catterick v Brough Park Eagles meeting mentioned above. The following was found in Sept/Oct 1950 edition of the Amateur Cycle Speedway magazine.

We now know that the Newcastle Eagles tracked an eight man team, as above with the addition of Jackie Hiscock. The Steward was Newcastle official E Hodgson (Sr). The crowd was said to be around 500. Les has spotted the Catterick team and riders totals do not agree. He suspects there was confusion with the Tarrant brothers rides and scores.

Catterick Lions 56
D Wooton 15 (max), R Tarrant 13, P Tarrant 10, R Pollard 10, R Snelling 8, B Devine 5

Brough Park Eagles 40
E Hodgson 11, A Cooper 8, J Hiscock 5, D Barras 4, D Alder 4, B Miller 3, B Harvey 3, N Carney 2

The same magazine reported in the Nov/Dec 1950 issue two results from meetings in Scotland.

Glasgow Craigton Eagles 57 Catterick Lions 61
Edinburgh Select 58 Catterick Lions 50.

Les Gustaffson has come up with the following items.

Les Gustafson says: Ron Tarrant, who subsequently emigrated to Canada, contributed an article some years ago to the VCSRA 'Track Record' magazine and has also supplied a copy of the item in the national magazine from which he drew some of his information. He also confirmed that the Catterick side raced a second match during their visit to Bradford - losing against the Bradford Test team 43-53, and then hosted Frizinghall in a return match, winning 58-38.

Les Gustafson says: A summary of the 1950 season gives a record of ten matches between July and October - four against Newcastle (two home and two away), all won by Catterick, including the one abandoned after only nine heats due to bad weather with Catterick ahead 27.5-26.5, three against Bradford - home and away wins over Frizinghall and a 43-53 defeat away to the Bradford Test Team - plus a win in Glasgow and a defeat in Edinburgh. The other match was a scratch event - Catterick Lions v Catterick Flyers, won by the Lions 31-24(?).

There was nominally a Catterick Hawks side, but no report of racing. An eleventh fixture - a Best Pairs in August 1950 - was scheduled but no record of the event has surfaced.

Ed. always looking for items to improve this website so if you have any photographs featuring cycle speedway at Catterick Camp, or in general, please email me John