Following the introduction of Speedway to this country, Exeter born Leonard Glanfield decides to open a track a the County Ground and work starts in January, 1929. Together with Mr F.Cottey and Mr Henley they form a company known as Southern Speedways Ltd and secured a five year lease at £300 per annum.

The County Ground Stadium had been built in 1898 and in 1929 it looked very much as it does today, the present Grandstand having been completed in 1921 replacing a wooden one that had been burnt down in 1918.

The first racing was scheduled for Saturday,9th March, but a week earlier there is a demo following a Rugby match by the first two riders everto race the circuit. Freddie Hore was a former Exonian who had emigrated to Australia, learnt the art of riding and then returned when the sport first came to these shores.

The other rider that day was a 16 year old Aussie called Bert ("Baby Cyclone") Spencer.

The first meeting goes ahead with 11,000 spectators looking on. Admission prices that opening night were 2/- and 3/- (10p and 15p) for the Grandstand and 1/- or 1/6 (5p and 7.5p) for the Ground.

The first race was won by Les Dallimore in 88.0 seconds as he went on to win the final, whilst Ron Johnson wins the Golden Helmet. Also included that day was the famous Australian, Frank Arthur. The crowd went away thrilled after the meeting and were eager for more. Exeter Speedway had become a reality.

Meetings were held every Wednesdays and Saturdays and the Easter weekend of that year saw racing on both Saturday and Monday, with a combined total of some 19,000 fans turning out, such was the interest of the sport. Star attractions to the Devon circuit that year include Lloyd "Sprouts" Elder and Lionel Van Pragg who went on to become the first World Champion.

May 29th sees the first team racing as the Exeter City Speedway team, beat Bristol 17-12 over 3 heats (points were awarded 4-3-2-1) after drawing 17-17 the evening before at Bristol's Knowle Park while a week later they beat a Harringay Select side 13-8. Riders for Exeter included Barker,Buckland,Fleeman and Swift.
Pictured Right, a scene from that first Revel showing Cecil Brown on the inside of Jack Bishop with Frank Arthur closing in. Note the size of the crowd behind.

Big attraction that year was on Tuesday June 25th whith the staging of first Great Speedway Revel. It included all the top stars of that era when an amazing crowd of between 15,000 and 16,000 turn up whilst an estimated 3,000 have to be turned away. The legendary Frank Arthur wins the Express and Echo Gold Cup on his Harley "Peashooter"

Towards the end of the year however, the crowds started to dwindle and Wednesday, 9th October was to be the last under the Leonard Glanfield Southern Speedways Banner and two days later came the news of Southern Speedways decision to pull the plug on Exeter Speedway. Salvation, however was soon to be on hand in the form of Crystal Palace promoters Red Mockford and Cecil Smith.

Elsewhere in 1929

Following the opening pioneering year of 1928, promoters were falling over one another to get the 1929 season under way, but amidst all the hectic activity, it was soon clear that the fans wanted to see and support teams in league format and so the North and South Leagues were formed as totally seperate entities. Jimmy Baxter was the father of the Southern league and from the off, they put a ban on all overseas riders AND the British stars of 1928, thinking fresh blood was the key. This however didn't materialise and British stars were later invited into the League. Matches consisted of six riders in a team and over six Heats with a 4-2-1 scoring system. Stamford Bridge (Pictured Below) were the first ever Champions on 34 points, second were Southampton and third Coventry.

The Northern league, formerly known as the English league (changed to avoid confusion) was not as well organised and originally tried 6 riders in a heat, but then followed the same format as the Southern league only running 9 Heats instead of six. Such was the internal mess, that when White City (Manchester) won the title, they handed it over to runners up Leeds with Halifax in third.

There then followed a list of Clubs who started out in the Northern league but failed to end the season, including White City, Warrington (who were banned), Belle Vue, Burnley, Bolton, (who only rode one match) and Hanley who replaced them, rode four meetings, lost them all and also pulled out. And then there was Long Eaton, who joined the league and then pulled out without staging a single meeting. It should be noted that there were also many Non League sides such as Exeter, who incidentally beat the Southern Giants Stamford Bridge on aggregate.

The Southern League Tracks staged an individual set of events to become known as the Star Championship as it was sponsored by the London Evening Newspaper "The Star"and continued to be staged until the World Championship in 1936. The Star Championship began in this year with two sections, Frank Arthur won the Overseas Section beating Vic Huxley whilst Roger Frogley won the English section beating Jack parker. Stamford Bridge went on to win the Southern League Title scoring 34 points to beat runners up Southampton on 32pts and Coventry on 28