Malcolm Simmons (speedway rider)

Malcolm Simmons
Born	20 March 1946; Tonbridge, England
Died	25 May 2014 (aged 68)
Nickname	Simmo
Nationality	British (English)
Career history
1963	Hackney Hawks
1964-1967	West Ham Hammers
1968-1974, 1993	King's Lynn Stars
1975-1980	Poole Pirates
1981-1984	Wimbledon Dons
1985	Swindon Robins
1986-1987	Hackney Kestrels
1989	Arena Essex Hammers
Individual honours
1976	British Champion
1974	Spring Classic
1975, 1976, 1977, 1978	Blue Riband
1976	Internationale
1976	Littlechild Trophy
1977	Superama
1977	Southern Masters
1982	The Laurels
Team honours
1973, 1974, 1975, 1977	World Team Cup Winner
1976, 1977, 1978	World Pairs Champion
1965	British League Champion
1965	British League KO Cup Winner
1965, 1966, 1967	London Cup
1973	Spring Gold Cup

Malcolm Simmons (20 March 1946 – 25 May 2014) was a motorcycle speedway rider from England.^[1]^[2] He earned 73 international caps for the England national speedway team and five caps for the Great Britain team.^[3]

Career

Simmons was born in Tonbridge, Kent. After starting in second-half races at New Cross, he made his Provincial League debut at Hackney Hawks in 1963 aged seventeen but was unable to break into the Hackney team regularly so moved to the newly re-opened West Ham Hammers for the 1964 season.^[4] In 1965 Simmons won a British League and British League Knockout Cup double with West Ham. In 1968 he moved to the King's Lynn Stars and stayed there for the next seven seasons. He was consistently at the top of the Stars averages and scored over 2112 points for the club.^[5]

Simmons signed for the Poole Pirates in 1975 from King's Lynn.^[6] In his first season for Poole in 31 league matches he achieved 16 maximum scores (15 full and 1 paid) and he became the first Poole rider to secure a 10-point average in the British League. Simmons topped the Pirates averages for the next six years and he came to be affectionately known by the Poole fans as 'Super Simmo'. In 1979 the Pirates were taken over by new owners and Simmons became unsettled, asking for a transfer in 1980. At a pairs event at Poole that year, Simmons was accused by the Poole management of not trying and he was subsequently sacked by the club.^[5]

He moved to Wimbledon in 1981,^[7] where he spent four seasons and moved to the Swindon Robins for one season in 1985. Simmons signed for former club Hackey, now renamed Hackney Kestrels, in 1986 for two years before he suffered a bad shoulder injury. He then made a couple of short come-backs at Arena Essex and King's Lynn.^[5]

Malcolm captained England and Great Britain at full international level. He finished runner-up to Peter Collins in the 1976 Speedway World Championship, but became World Pairs Champion with John Louis the same year. He again became World Pairs Champion in 1977 with Peter Collins, and again in 1978 with Gordon Kennett. Simmons became British Champion in 1976.^[8] He won the World Team Cup on four occasions—1973, 1974, 1975 and 1977—once with Great Britain and three times with England.

He signed as a rider for Mildenhall in 2001 to ride occasionally in the Conference League, aged 56.^{[citation needed]}

World Final Appearances

Individual World Championship

1975 - London, Wembley Stadium - 7th - 10pts
1976 - Chorzów, Silesian Stadium - 2nd - 13pts
1978 - London, Wembley Stadium - 6th - 10pts

World Pairs Championship

1976 - Eskilstuna, Snälltorpet (with John Louis) - Winner - 27pts (10)
1977 – Manchester, Hyde Road (with Peter Collins) – Winner – 28pts (13)
1978 - Chorzów, Silesian Stadium (with Gordon Kennett) - Winner - 24pts (15+3)
1979 - Vojens, Speedway Center (with Michael Lee) - 2nd - 24pts (9)

World Team Cup

1973* - London, Wembley Stadium (with Peter Collins / Ray Wilson / Terry Betts) - Winner - 37pts (8)
1974 - Chorzów, Silesian Stadium (with Peter Collins / John Louis / Dave Jessup) - Winner - 42pts (8)
1975 - Norden, Motodrom Halbemond (with Peter Collins / Martin Ashby / John Louis) – Winner – 41pts (11)
1977 - Wrocław, Olympic Stadium (with Peter Collins / Michael Lee / Dave Jessup / John Davis) - Winner - 37pts (9)
1978 - Landshut, Ellermühle Stadium (with Dave Jessup / Peter Collins / Gordon Kennett / Michael Lee) - 2nd - 27pts (8)

* 1973 for Great Britain. All others for England.

References

^ Lawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. ISBN 978-0-244-72538-9
^ Montague, Trevor (2004). The A-Z of Sport. Little, Brown. p. 530. ISBN 0-316-72645-1.
^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
^ Rogers, Martin (1963) "Hackney Hawks Here to Stay?", Speedway Star, 1 June 1963, p. 16
^ ^a ^b ^c Bamford, Robert; Shailes, Glynn (2004). 50 Poole Pirates Greats. Tempus Publishing. pp. 108–109. ISBN 0-7524-3257-5.
^ "Three new stars for the Racers". Reading Evening Post. 23 January 1975. Retrieved 7 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Speedway racing". Fulham Chronicle. 27 February 1981. Retrieved 1 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5

[1] Lawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. ISBN 978-0-244-72538-9

[2] Montague, Trevor (2004). The A-Z of Sport. Little, Brown. p. 530. ISBN 0-316-72645-1.

[3] "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 29 December 2023.

[Rogers-4] Rogers, Martin (1963) "Hackney Hawks Here to Stay?", Speedway Star, 1 June 1963, p. 16

[50_Greats-5] Bamford, Robert; Shailes, Glynn (2004). 50 Poole Pirates Greats. Tempus Publishing. pp. 108–109. ISBN 0-7524-3257-5.

[6] "Three new stars for the Racers". Reading Evening Post. 23 January 1975. Retrieved 7 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[7] "Speedway racing". Fulham Chronicle. 27 February 1981. Retrieved 1 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[8] Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5

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