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Oliver Langton

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Oliver Langton
Born9 June 1905 (1905-06-09)
Leeds, England
Died25 August 1978(1978-08-25) (aged 73)
Leeds, England
NationalityBritish (English)
Career history
1929Leeds Lions
1930–1931, 1934–1939Belle Vue Aces
1930Warrington
Team honours
1929, 1931Dirt Track/Northern League winner
1937, 1939National Trophy
1937ACU Cup

Oliver Langton (9 June 1905 – 25 August 1978) was an international motorcycle speedway rider from England. He earned one international cap for the England national speedway team.[1]

Biography

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Langton, born in Leeds, started racing in trials and won the 1927 Scott Trial before racing in the senior 1929 Isle of Man TT.[2][3]

He rode in the pioneer years of British speedway beginning his British leagues career riding for Leeds during the 1929 Speedway English Dirt Track League, where he contributed towards their league winning season and was the team captain.[4] The following season he rode for Warrington, in addition to making his debut for Belle Vue Aces.[5]

He remained at Belle Vue from 1931 until the end of his career in 1939.[6] During that time he was part of a team that won three consecutive trebles of league, National Trophy and ACU Cup.

During the World War II Langton was a part-time fireman and trained despatch riders.[7]

Family

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His brother Eric Langton was also a speedway rider and was capped by England 44 times.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  2. ^ "Database". IOM TT Races. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Dirt-Track Racing". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 15 August 1928. Retrieved 21 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ "1965 season results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  6. ^ "Rider averages 1929 to 2009" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  7. ^ "N.F.S Despatch Riders' School in Leeds". Yorkshire Evening Post. 17 September 1942. Retrieved 21 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.