Newcastle Speedway

The official Facebook page of the Newcastle Diamonds speedway team. The official Facebook page of the Newcastle Diamonds speedway team. Speedway was introduced to the UK by Kiwi Jonnie Hoskins in 1928 after an idea he had in 1925 over in Australia. Dirt Track racing arrived on Tyneside in 1929 when tracks Whitley Bay, Gosforth and current home at Brough Park (now Newcastle Greyhound Stadium) in Byker were launched. Racing didn’t last long at Whitley Bay and the coastal track closed after only11 meetings. The Gosforth track however lasted a couple of years longer but unfortunately closed in 1931. The first meeting to be raced at the Brough Park circuit was held on May 17th 1929 and local rider 17 year old Gordon Byers won the first ever race. Although racing ceased in 1930, Hoskins himself reopened Newcastle in 1938 and Speedway as it’s know today has been raced in Byker since then albeit with a few breaks and is currently in its longest unbroken run going back to 1997. The club has had it’s fair share of honours within the team format but 4 individual World Champions have either started at or rode in the early part of their careers here in Newcastle. Arguably the most famous rider of all time, Ivan Mauger became World Champion for the first time whilst he was still a Newcastle rider in 1968. More recently, Newcastle Diamonds were triple champions in 2010 and Dane Kenni Larsen won the Premier League Individual Championship that year too. In 2018 Speedway has 3 main leagues comprising of 30 teams as far apart as Glasgow down to the Isle of Wight. Newcastle race in the SGB Championship with 10 other teams. Berwick – Edinburgh – Glasgow – Ipswich – Lakeside - Peterborough - Redcar – Scunthorpe - Sheffield and Workington making up the Diamonds opposition. The season runs from March until October and the Diamonds race at home, mainly on Sunday evenings with a 6.30pm start.