Country England Website www.hackneyhawks.co.uk | Closed 1983 Date founded 1963 | |
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Track address Hackney Wick Stadium
Waterden Road
Hackney
London League Provincial League/British League Colours Red & blue quarters
with gold sash/
Yellow Hawk on
Blue and White Check | ||
Wimbledon dons v hackney hawks 1982 plough lane stadium
Hackney Hawks speedway opened in 1963 at Hackney Wick Stadium, Waterden Road, London and operated until 1983.
Contents
Hackney speedway hackney hawks v eastbourne eagles 1982
Early days
Originally opened by Mike Parker, the team joined the Provincial League in 1963. The promotion was then sold to Len Silver who was the club's promoter for the next twenty seasons. The riders and track staff marched onto the track to the sound of the theme tune of the film The Magnificent Seven and that tune inspires more memories for Hackney Hawks fans than anything else. The Hawks were closely linked with sister track the Rayleigh Rockets and latterly the Rye House Rockets.
In 1971 Hackney won their only major honour when they beat Cradley Heath Heathens to win the British League Knockout Cup.
The Hackney Hawks name was revived in 2011 in the National League as a joint promotion between the promotions at Lakeside and Rye House with the Hawks home matches being divided between the two parent tracks
Vic Harding
In June 1979, popular Hawk Vic Harding was killed whilst racing for the team. A Vic Harding Memorial Trophy meeting was held in his memory every season after his death, and was in fact the final meeting that Len Silver ran at Waterden Road in 1983.
Closure
In 1984 the promotion was sold and the promotion from Crayford moved their Kestrels team into the stadium and became known as the Hackney Kestrels.