Fifty years ago, Bikernieki hosted its first speedway meeting
The first speedway competition at the Bikernieki sports complex in Riga took place on 9 October 1976, and Riga hosted its first Latvian championship in the sport a day later. The speedway stadium turns 50 this year.
The CSDD Bikernieki Complex Sports Base (BKSB) in Riga has two anniversaries this year: the sports base itself turns 60, while its speedway stadium turns 50. Speedway is a motorcycle sport in which riders race on a short oval track. The first competition at the stadium was held on 9 October 1976.
From road racing to speedway
The plans for the sports base included a motoball stadium and a speedway track from the start, but a road-racing circuit was built first. The track drawings were produced by road racer Karlis Osins, a 16-time USSR champion, together with Eduards Kiope, the base's first director. Motorsport riders opened the first phase on 30 July 1966, and the speedway track was completed in autumn 1976.
Riga riders, together with coach Valdis Otto, went to learn in Daugavpils, then the centre of speedway in Latvia. Coaches of the Daugavpils team Lokomotive and other specialists offered advice. The poster for the first event had to be approved by the censorship office, Glavlit, and Otto secured approval for the name "speedway", although linguists had objected to it. The Bikernieki track had an unusual flexible wire-mesh fence, which foreign riders later praised.
First events and what followed
The first competition, for BKSB prizes, was followed by the Latvian championship on 10 October. To reach a field of 16 riders, three road racers also took part. Daugavpils rider Sergejs Dovzenko won on the first day, while his clubmate Anatolijs Kuzmins became champion.
Three years later the Riga team Rigatrans made its debut in the USSR championship First League, and in 1985, under the name Celinieks, it finished third. Speedway in Riga ended in the early 1990s. In 2002 riders from Daugavpils organised a meeting that drew about 2,500 spectators. Speedway at Bikernieki was later saved from disappearing by Vladimirs Ribnikovs.
