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
1954–1957Ipswich

Ronald Arthur Bainbridge (26 April 1924 – 5 November 2000) was a motorcycle speedway rider from Australia. During his speedway career he rode as Junior Bainbridge and earned 9 international caps for the Australia national speedway team.[1][2]

Biography

Bainbridge, born in Melbourne, was spotted riding by Charlie Spinks in 1946.[2] before beginning his British leagues career riding for Glasgow during the 1947 Speedway National League Division Two season.[3] After two moderate seasons his average improved significantly during 1949, when he hit 8.17 and then increased this to 8.68 in 1950.[4] He became a crowd favourite and expectations were high when he rode for them.[5]

He reached the Championship round of the 1950 Individual Speedway World Championship and the 1951 Individual Speedway World Championship[6] and averaged an impressive 9.18 in 1952 for Glasgow.[7]

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.[2]

He would spend four years with the Suffolk club, recording 9.32 and topping the team's averages during his first season with them.[6]

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.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "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. 1 2 "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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