Bradford Dukes

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Club Information
Bradford Dukes
Track Address	Odsal Stadium Odsal Top Bradford West Yorkshire
Country	England
Founded	1945
Closed	1997
Team Manager	Alan Ham Bobby Ham
Website	Bradford Speedway
Club Facts
Colours	Blue Red and White
Track size	370 yards
Major Team Honours
Elite League Champions British League KO Cup Winners BSPA Cup Winner Gold Cup Winner	1997 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995 1991 1990

The Bradford Dukes operated from 1986 until their closure in 1997. Bradford had previously hosted several speedway teams at Odsal Stadium. The Odsal Boomerangs from 1945 to 1949, the Bradford Tudors from 1950 to 1959, the Bradford Panthers from 1960 to 1962, the Bradford Northern from 1970 to 1973 and the Bradford Barons from 1974 to 1975. In 1961 and 1962 they rode at Greenfield Stadium in Dudley Hill. ^[1]

Gary Havelock became Speedway World Champion whilst a Bradford rider in 1992, winning the title at the Olympic Stadium in Wroclaw, Poland.

Bradford Dukes 1986 - 1997

Remember the Bradford Dukes? In 1997 they sat proudly at the top in the sport of speedway. The Dukes had just won the Elite League title, but when the curtain came down on the season a full stop was added after twelve consecutive years of world class racing at Odsal Stadium.

Speedway has long been associated with Odsal Stadium. In all there have been three eras of racing activity at the famous venue, spanning the years 1945-1960, 1970-1975 and most recently 1985-1997. There was also a short-lived existence at the old Greenfield Stadium between 1961-1962.

But, when speedway returned to Odsal in 1985, after a ten-year absence, it was as ‘The Premier Racing Circuit’ on the British Speedway calendar. Wembley, long established as the spiritual home of speedway in this country, had last staged a World Individual Final in 1981 and Speedways governing body F.I.M adopted a revamped Odsal for its blue riband event in the UK.

Bradford Council were quick to seize on the prestige of being associated with a World event and rubber stamped £1m of work to create much of the Odsal Stadium that we are familiar with today. Speedway at the time was not enjoying the best of times. Then a minority interest sport living on the memories of the boom-bust post war years and ITV’s World of Sport aided mini revival in the early 1970’s.

After 10 long years in speedways wilderness to suddenly have the prospect of seeing the world’s top riders in Bradford was quite unbelievable. But, credit to the Council they backed it and the present Odsal emerged. A 40,000 crowd paid homage at the 1985 World Individual Final. So, with arguably the best facilities in speedway, it was no surprise when the Halifax speedway promoters decided to transfer their operation up the hill to Odsal, when upgrade work needed at The Shay made it unviable for the speedway.

In March 1986 Odsal opened its doors to Division One Speedway action for the first time since the 1950’s. Excitement quickly turned to tragedy with death of Kenny Carter and his wife Pam in a shooting incident at their home. Carter, then England and Bradford number one, was a loss the club struggled to overcome. However, supported by two of Bradford’s sporting sons, Bobby Ham (former City striker) and brother Allan Ham (Park Avenue), the club steadily recovered into the early 1990’s when it began to see on track success.

Together the Ham’s set about bringing the very best speedway to Bradford on summer Saturday nights. Always ready to back British talent the Dukes team boasted 1992 World Champion Gary Havelock, the Multi-British Champion Simon Wigg, England number one Kelvin Tatum and England’s most recent World number one Mark Loram. If there was ever an attempt to promote speedway this was it. However, the attendances for regular League racing tended to reflect the “minority interest” the sport had become. Still the Ham’s battled away, although Bobby’s illness in the later years saw Allan take fuller control. What was indisputable was that Bradford speedway week in and week out put on a show and over those 12 years Odsal saw some of the finest riders and speedway racing in its history.

Quite simply Odsal was the most brilliant Stadium in the world for speedway. Sit or stand anywhere in the natural amphitheater and you will not miss one ounce of the action. I have witnessed Speedway the length and breadth of this land and Europe and there is NOWHERE like Odsal.

Bradford Council were always supportive of the speedway. Indeed, they were club sponsors under the banner of “Metro Dukes” in the early 90’s. However, Odsal Stadium was always a financial black hole for public funds. So when the idea of outside redevelopment of the site was mooted, not too surprisingly the Council were eager to listen.

As the Dukes celebrated with a civic gathering at City Hall their fate was already sealed. Speedway was to vacate Odsal to allow groundwork to begin at Odsal for the Superdome. In truth it was probably a convenient watershed for the speedway promoters as their efforts had been unstinting over the years. So speedway would be off the sporting agenda in Bradford at least until the year 2000. When the Dukes would ride into a 21st Century Odsal complete with sliding roof!

Everyone knows what happened next - not a sod was turned and the roar of engines has long died.

So, what of speedway and does it have a future at Odsal? Will it ever return? Will Bradford speedway return? Possibly! Bradford Council in its quest to develop new sporting facilities in Bradford now see an opportunity to help reform the Bradford speedway club and poosibly build a brand new speedway venue. More will be revealed in 2008.