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Junior Bainbridge

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Australian motorcycle speedway rider (1924 – 2000)

Junior Bainbridge
Born26 April 1924 (1924-04-26)
Melbourne, Australia
Died5 November 2000(2000-11-05) (aged 76)
Melbourne, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Career history
1947–1953Glasgow Tigers
1954–1957Ipswich Witches
Team honours
1952, 1953Scottish Cup

Ronald Arthur Bainbridge (26 April 1924 – 5 November 2000) was an Australian motorcycle speedway rider. During his speedway career he rode as Junior Bainbridge and earned 9 international caps for the Australia national speedway team.

Biography

Bainbridge, born in Melbourne, was spotted riding by Charlie Spinks in 1946. before beginning his British leagues career riding for Glasgow during the 1947 Speedway National League Division Two season. After two moderate seasons his average improved significantly during 1949, when he hit 8.17 and then increased this to 8.68 in 1950. He became a crowd favourite and expectations were high when he rode for them.

He reached the Championship round of the 1950 Individual Speedway World Championship and the 1951 Individual Speedway World Championship and averaged an impressive 9.18 in 1952 for Glasgow.

His final season at Glasgow was in the 1953 Speedway National League Division Two, because the following year he signed for Ipswich Witches at a cost of £500, to help clear the debts of the Scottish club.

He would spend four years with the Suffolk club, recording 9.32 and topping the team's averages during his first season with them.

He retired form British speedway after the 1957 season but returned to Australia and continued to ride for a few years, riding for Australia against England as late as January 1960.

References

  1. "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  2. ^ "Bainbridge, Ronald Junior" (PDF). Speedway Plus. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  3. "1947 season". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  4. "Rider averages 1929 to 2009" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  5. "Junior faces a tough speedway job here". Daily Mirror. 23 May 1949. Retrieved 10 January 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ "Bainbridge qualifies". Daily Record. 8 July 1950. Retrieved 10 January 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
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