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Kenneth Malcolm Carter (28 March 1961 – 21 May 1986), was a British motorcycle speedway rider. He was a World Pairs champion and British champion. On Wednesday, 21 May 1986, he shot dead his wife, Pam, and then killed himself, orphaning their two young children in the process.

Career

Carter was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire. He started his career in Britain doubling up for Halifax Dukes during the 1978 British League season and the Newcastle Diamonds during the 1978 National League season. In 1979, he won the British Speedway Under 21 Championship and enjoyed a solid season for Halifax, averaging 8.13.

In 1980, he topped the Halifax team averages and represented them in the British League Riders' Championship.

Carter took on six-time World Champion Ivan Mauger as his manager in 1981, who set him up with a Weslake bike. He reached the final of the 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship, finishing fifth and won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 17 October 1981. He and Carter qualified for the 1981 World Final run in front of 92,500 fans at Wembley Stadium.

In 1982, he qualified for the final again, this time held in Los Angeles. The final is remembered for the incident after a controversial heat 14 exclusion for Carter, following a coming together with defending champion (and eventual 1982 winner), Bruce Penhall, in which Carter fell and was excluded after the race was stopped. After pleading his case, he failed to change Torrie Kittlesen's mind. He then told Kittlesen that his decision had cost him the World Championship. Following this, Carter walked onto the track and stood at the starting tapes in an attempt to prevent the re-run heat going ahead without him, with most of the 40,000 strong crowd at the Los Angeles Coliseum (who were firmly behind home town hero Penhall) booing him loudly. Carter then had to be physically removed from the track by security personnel and his manager Ivan Mauger. Penhall and Carter had been bumping each other all the way along the front straight and footage of Carter's fall is inconclusive.

Less than two months later, he retained his British League Riders' Championship, recording a 15 point maximum and he topped the 1982 British League season averages for his club Halifax.

In 1983, he became the World Pairs Champion with Peter Collins. Carter finished 5th again (for the third successive year) during the 1983 Individual Speedway World Championship at Norden in West Germany.

Carter was British Champion in 1984 and 1985, and later that year appeared as a television commentator alongside Dave Lanning for the 1985 World Final at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford for which he had failed to qualify after breaking his leg in the 1985 Intercontinental Final in Sweden. Outspoken, Kenny Carter was not universally popular with other riders, even those who were his team mates in the Halifax team or the England team. In a television interview during the 1984 British Final (which he won despite a broken right leg) he stated that some of his England team mates had been verbally criticising him for his desire to continue riding. Most of the riders' frustrations came from the wet track conditions, which they felt were dangerous to ride in.

Less than one year later, Carter shot dead his wife, Pamela, before turning the gun on himself at their home, Grey Horse Farm, in Bradshaw, West Yorkshire.

Carter was the older brother of Grand Prix motorcycle road racer Alan Carter.

World Final Appearances

Individual World Championship

• 1981 – London, Wembley Stadium – 5th – 11pts
• 1982 – Los Angeles, Memorial Coliseum – 5th – 10pts
• 1983 – Norden, Motodrom Halbemond – 5th – 10pts

World Pairs Championship

• 1982 – Sydney, Liverpool City Raceway (with Peter Collins) – 2nd – 22pts (7)
• 1983 – Gothenburg, Ullevi (with Peter Collins) – Winner – 25pts (15)
• 1985 – Rybnik, Rybnik Municipal Stadium (with Kelvin Tatum) – 2nd – 27pts (14)

World Team Cup

• 1981 – Olching, Speedway Stadion Olching (with Dave Jessup / Chris Morton / John Davis / Gordon Kennett) – 2nd – 29pts (9)
• 1983 – Vojens, Speedway Center (with Michael Lee / Dave Jessup / Chris Morton / Peter Collins) – 2nd – 29pts (8)

References

1. Oakes, P.(2004). British Speedway Who's Who. ISBN 0-948882-81-6
2. McDonald, Tony (4 July 2007). TRAGEDY: The Kenny Carter Story. Hornchurch: Football World. ISBN 9780955117633.
3. Montague, Trevor (2004). The A-Z of Sport. Little, Brown. p. 516. ISBN 0-316-72645-1.
4. ^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
5. Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 87. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
6. "Speedway". The People. 21 October 1979. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Speedway". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 18 October 1981. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. Oakes, P & Rising, P (1986). 1986 Speedway Yearbook. ISBN 0-948882-00-X
9. "Bruce Penhall". AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
10. "World Final Fury". Sandwell Evening Mail. 30 August 1982. Retrieved 1 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "Bruce Penhall V's Kenny Carter 1982 Speedway World Final Los Angeles". You Tube. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
12. "Carter's maximum". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 17 October 1982. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
13. Oakes, Peter (1990). Speedway Yearbook 1990. Front Page Books. ISBN 0-948882-15-8.
14. "Egon tops the bill with his champion act". Daily Mirror. 5 September 1983. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
15. MacDonald, T.(2007). The Kenny Carter Story. ISBN 0-9551176-3-1

• 1961 births
• 1986 suicides
• 1986 deaths
• Sportspeople from Halifax, West Yorkshire
• English motorcycle racers
• British speedway riders
• British Speedway Championship winners
• Halifax Dukes riders
• Newcastle Diamonds riders
• Speedway World Pairs Champions
• Murder–suicides in the United Kingdom
• Suicides by firearm in England
• Sportspeople who died by suicide