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Don Hardy (speedway rider)

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British speedway rider

Don Hardy
Born(1921-04-09)9 April 1921
Boveridge, Dorset, England
Died7 March 2018(2018-03-07) (aged 96)
NationalityBritish (English)
Career history
1947–1955Exeter Falcons
1947, 1949New Cross Rangers
Team honours
1948League champion (div 3)
1951National Trophy (div 3)

Sidney Donald Hardy (9 April 1921 – 7 March 2018) was an English motorcycle speedway rider.

Biography

Hardy, born in Boveridge, Dorset, began his speedway career after being signed by New Cross Rangers for the 1947 Speedway National League season. However, he was loaned out to Exeter Falcons in division three and made an immediate impact with the Devon club, averaging 7.86 from 40 matches.

The following season during the 1948 Speedway National League Division Three campaign, he helped Exeter win the league title. Hardy became one of the leading riders in the division and became a crowd favourite of the Falcons. He continued to perform well, averaging 8.70 in 1949 and then impressed with a 9.69 average for the 1950 Speedway National League Division Three season. He had previously made an official transfer to Exeter from New Cross in May 1949.

In 1951 he was part of the Falcons team that won the National Trophy (div 3) and finished runner-up behind Poole Pirates in the league.

Hardy spent four more seasons with the Falcons from 1952 through to the end of the 1955 Speedway National League Division Two season.

Hardy died in 2018 aged 96.

References

  1. "Ultimate Rider Index, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  2. "1947 season" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  3. "Speedway must limit crowds". Daily Mirror. 27 March 1947. Retrieved 2 November 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ "Rider averages 1929 to 2009" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  5. "Speedway Teams UK 1946-1951". Cyber Motorcycle. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  6. Oakes, Peter (1978). 1978 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. ISBN 978-0904584509.
  7. "Don Hardy scores second consecutive maximum". Western Morning News. 15 April 1950. Retrieved 2 November 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "15,000 see Hunter win by big margin". Leicester Daily Mercury. 7 May 1949. Retrieved 2 November 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "1951 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  10. "Exeter Falcons took flight in speedway's heyday". Devon Live. October 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  11. "Don Hardy". Basingtoke Gazette. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
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