Roy Craighead

Roy Allan Craighead (11 September 1916 – 17 March 2007) was a motorcycle speedway rider from England.^[1]

Roy Craighead

Craighead in 1951
Born	11 September 1916 (1916-09-11) Ilford, London, England
Died	17 March 2007(2007-03-17) (aged 90)
Nationality	British (English)
Career history
1946–1948	Wembley Lions
1949–1951	Southampton Saints
1951–1952, 1954	Poole Pirates
1953–1954	Norwich Stars
1956, 1960–1961	Rayleigh Rockets
Team honours
1946, 1947	League champion (tier 1)
1948	National Trophy (tier 1)
1946, 1948	London Cup
1947	British Speedway Cup
1952	League champion (tier 2)
1952	National Trophy (tier 2)
1951	League champion (tier 3)

Biography

Craighead, born in Ilford, London, began his British leagues career riding for Wembley Lions during the 1946 Speedway National League season.^[2] His first league season proved to be extremely successful, winning both the league title^[3] and London Cup with his team.^[4] He remained with Wembley for two more seasons and picked up more silverware, after winning the league title and British Speedway Cup in 1947 and the National Trophy and London Cup in 1948.^[5]

In 1949, he joined Southampton Saints in exchange for Alf Bottoms, where he spent two seasons^[6] He also reached the Championship round of the 1949 Individual Speedway World Championship and averaged 8.36 for Southampton in 1950.^[7] Mid-way through the 1951 season, he was forced to find a new club following the withdrawal of Southampton from the league. He switched to another south coast team in the form of Poole Pirates and would help them win the league that season. His knack of riding for a team that would win trophies continued as Poole moved up to division 2 and won the league and cup double.^[8]

Craighead rode for Norwich Stars in 1953 and the beginning of 1954 before deciding to quite racing for a while. He returned to ride for Rayleigh Rockets a couple of times in 1956 and more regularly in 1960 and 1961.^[9]