Richard May (speedway rider)

Charles Richard May (born 8 May 1944 in Southampton, England) was a motorcycle speedway rider that rode for Reading Racers and Poole Pirates between 1969 and 1977.[1]

Richard May
Richard May, speedway rider.
Born(1944-05-08)8 May 1944
Southampton, England
Career history
1969–1973, 1975Reading Racers
1974, 1976–1977Poole Pirates
Individual honours
1967Southern Centre 350cc Solo Grasstrack
1970Stadium Trophy
1970Suffolk Open Championship
1970Argus Trophy
1970Peter Arnold Memorial Trophy
1970Reading Open Championship
1971Golden Helmet
Team honours
1973British League
1972Spring Gold Cup

Career

"Dickie" May was the Southern Centre 350cc Solo Grasstrack champion in 1967.[2][3] In 1970 he was part of the Young England side that faced a Young Sweden side in the Division 2 Test Series tour[4][5] and won the individual titles of Stadium Trophy (8/6/1970), Suffolk Open Championship (2/7/1970), the Argus Trophy (5/7/1970), the Peter Arnold Memorial Trophy (10/8/1970) and the Reading Open Championship (7 /9/1970).[6] In 1971 he won the Golden Helmet from Ken McKinlay.[7]

While riding for the Reading Racers he was part of the 1973 British League Champions team along with regular riders Anders Michanek, Dag Lövaas, Geoff Curtis, Mick Bell and Bernie Leigh.[8][9] He also rode for Poole Pirates.[10] While riding for the Pirates he competed in the preliminary round of the British Qualifiers of the 1974 Individual Speedway World Championship and was the leading bonus point scorer that year for Poole.[11]

Speedway writer Arnie Gibbons (author of Tears and Glory ISBN 9780955845505) wrote in the Speedway Plus article "We had Joy, We Had Fun" that after a meet on 5 October 1970, May had become his first speedway hero after scoring a 12 point full maximum which helped the Reading Racers beat Eastbourne.[12]

References
  1. "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  2. "Southern Centre Championships (350cc) - Grasstrack GB". Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  3. "My motorbike was used by speedway hero - get reading". Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  4. "A Tribute To Tommy Jansson His Race Heat Details For Great Britain - Robert Browne" (PDF). Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  5. "Young England v Young Sweden 27 July 1970 - defunctspeedway.co.uk". Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  6. "British Speedway Official Website - British League Results (1960-1984) - 1970". Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  7. Gibbons.A Tears and Glory ISBN 9780955845505
  8. "Speedway Star Clark.R p.14 March 2015". Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  9. "Season 1973 - Speedwaygb.co.uk" (PDF). Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  10. Lawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. ISBN 978-0-244-72538-9
  11. "All Time Points Scorers - poole speedway". Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  12. "We had Joy, We had Fun by Gibbons, A. - Speedwayplus.com". Retrieved 31 October 2018.
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