Terry Small

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Terry Small
Born6 January 1927 (1927-01-06)
Southampton, England
Died10 December 1983(1983-12-10) (aged 56)
Southampton, England
NationalityBritish (English)
Career history
1949–1956, 1958–1959Poole Pirates
1957Rayleigh Rockets
Team honours
1952, 1955league champion (tier 2)
1952, 1955National Trophy (tier 2)
1951league champion (tier 3)

Terence Frank Small (6 January 1927 – 10 December 1983) was an international motorcycle speedway rider from England. He earned one international cap for the England national speedway team.[1]

Biography[edit]

Small, born in Southampton, raced grasstrack in Egypt, while serving with the British Army.[2] He began his British leagues career riding for Poole Pirates during the 1949 Speedway National League Division Three season.[3] He quickly became a regular in the team and made significant progress over the following two seasons, averaging an impressive 9.60 during the 1951 season.[4] The 1951 season ended with honours as Poole won the league title.[5]

Poole moved up a division in 1952 and Small was an integral part of the team when they won the league and cup double with relative ease.[6] He became a fans favourite and was still with the club when they won another league and cup double during the 1955 season.[7]

He rode once for Rayleigh Rockets in 1957 before deciding to take a break form speedway.[8] He returned to Poole for two more seasons from 1958 to 1959. When he retired, he had ridden 296 times for Poole and scored 2165 points. He was inducted into the Poole Hall of Fame in 1994.[2]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Terry Small". Poole Speedway. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  3. ^ "1949 season" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Rider averages 1929 to 2009" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  5. ^ Oakes, Peter (1978). 1978 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. ISBN 978-0904584509.
  6. ^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  7. ^ "Poole speedway men beat Danes". Leicester Evening Mail. 7 October 1955. Retrieved 30 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ "That helmet is so Golden". Sunday Mirror. 6 April 1958. Retrieved 30 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.