Graham Warren

Graham Warren

Graham Warren in 1953
Born	(1925-08-16)16 August 1925 Suva, Fiji
Died	5 October 2004
Nationality	Australian
Career history
1948-1953, 1955	Birmingham Brummies
1959-1960	Coventry Bees
1961-1963	Wolverhampton Wolves
Individual honours
1949	Queensland State Champion
1950	Tom Farndon Memorial winner
1953	Midland Riders Champion
Team honours
1948	Anniversary Cup (Div 2) winner
1948	National Trophy (Div 2) winner
1953, 1955, 1960	Midland Cup
1962	Provincial Northern League winner
1963	Provincial League Champion

Graham Warren (1926 in Suva, Fiji – 2005)^[1] was an international motorcycle speedway rider^[2] who finished third in the 1950 Speedway World Championship final and was a member of the Australian national speedway team.^[3][4]

Career

Warren arrived in the UK in March 1948 and signed up with the Birmingham Brummies in the National League Division Two.^[5] The Brummies finished second and were promoted to National League Division One for the 1949 season. In sixty meetings that season, Warren was unbeaten by an opponent in twenty five of them and averaged almost eleven points a match. In the May 1948, just two months after arriving in the UK for a trial with Birmingham, Warren was selected to ride for Australia. By 1949 he was the captain of his country. In 1949, despite being in a tougher division he still scored almost ten points a meeting and he qualified for his first World Final.

In 1949, he finished third in the Australian Championship and finished second a year later in 1950.^[6] Also in 1950, Warren qualified and finished in third place during the 1950 Individual Speedway World Championship. In early 1951, a severe accident at a meeting in New Zealand left Warren with a triple skull fracture and his career was never to hit the heights of 1950 again.

World final appearances

• 1949 - London, Wembley Stadium - 12th - 5pts
• 1950 - London, Wembley Stadium - 3rd - 12pts
• 1952 - London, Wembley Stadium - 13th - 5pts
• 1953 - London, Wembley Stadium - 12th - 5pts^[3]

References

1. Buck, B (2007) Brummies Legends, Pendragon Books. ISBN 0-9541671-2-0
2. "Darling of the fans Warren can give youth its biggest speedway boost". Daily Mirror. 10 June 1949. Retrieved 19 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
3. Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5
4. "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
5. "Birmingham speedway signing". Birmingham Daily Gazette. 7 April 1948. Retrieved 23 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "Individual Australian Championship". Historia Sportu Zuzlowego. Retrieved 20 January 2023.