Eric Williams
Born(1927-11-17)17 November 1927
Taibach, Port Talbot, Wales
Died24 July 2009(2009-07-24) (aged 81)
Mackay, Queensland, Australia
NationalityBritish (Welsh)
Career history
1948Birmingham
1949Cradley
1950-1955Wembley
1960-1961New Cross
1962Norwich
Individual honours
1951, 1953, 1955Speedway World Championship finalist
Team honours
1950, 1951, 1952, 1953League Champion
1954National Trophy Winner
1950, 1951, 1954London Cup

William Eric Williams (17 November 1927 – 24 July 2009) was a motorcycle speedway rider from Wales.[1] With no Welsh team to represent, he earned 23 international caps for the England national speedway team.[2]

Speedway career

Williams was a leading speedway rider in the 1950s. He reached the final of the Speedway World Championship on three occasions in the 1951 Individual Speedway World Championship, 1953 Individual Speedway World Championship and 1955 Individual Speedway World Championship.[3]

Williams rode in the top tier of British Speedway, riding primarily for Wembley Lions,[4] where he achieved great success as part of the Wembley team that dominated British speedway from 1950 to 1953. With them he won three National League titles, a national Trophy and three London Cups.[5] He also averaged 9.66 and 9.79 in 1953 and 1954 respectively.[6]

World Final appearances

Individual World Championship

  • 1951 – England London, Wembley Stadium – 12th - 6pts
  • 1953 – England London, Wembley Stadium – 13th - 4pts
  • 1955 – England London, Wembley Stadium – 4th - 12+1pts

Family

His two brothers, Freddie Williams and Ian Williams were also speedway riders, Freddie was a double World champion.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  2. ↑ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  3. ↑ "World Speedway finals" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  4. ↑ "History Archive". British Speedway. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  5. ↑ Oakes, Peter (1978). 1978 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. ISBN 978-0904584509.
  6. ↑ "Rider averages 1929 to 2009" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  7. ↑ "The Williams brothers". Defunct Speedway. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
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