John Dews

John Dews
Born	26 March 1945; Wakefield, England
Died	7 August 1995 (aged 50)
Nationality	British (English)
Career history
1962-1963	Belle Vue Aces
1962-1970	Sheffield Tigers
1971-1972	Wimbledon Dons
1973-1975	Oxford Rebels
1976	White City Rebels
Team honours
1962, 1963, 1964	Provincial Northern League Champion
1975	Midland Cup winner

John Dews (26 March 1945 – 7 August 1995) was a motorcycle speedway rider from England.^[1]^[2]

Career

Born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, Dews started his speedway career as a trainee at Belle Vue Aces, had his longest team history with Sheffield Tigers, scoring over 1,300 points for the club. Speedway rules required a change of team due to his averages and he moved to Wimbledon Dons for two years,^[3] before Oxford in 1973, as a replacement for Dave Hemus,^[4] He won the Radio Oxford Best Pairs match at Oxford in May 1974,^[4] partnering Richard Greer.

He was a member of the Midland Cup winning team in 1975, after drawn matches with Swindon Robins in the first round requiring reruns.^[5] He then moved with the Rebels under promoters Danny Dunton and Robert Dugard to White City Stadium in 1976, where he ended his racing career as a popular rider.^[6]

He rode 270 matches in his career, having 1033 rides, with a match average of 6.29. He went back to Sheffield to be the team manager in 1977 until 1980.

John Dews died in August 1995, aged only 50, after a short illness.

Gallery

Dews in action at Oxford
Oxford Best Pairs Champions

References

^ Lawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. ISBN 978-0-244-72538-9
^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
^ "John Dews". WWOS Backup. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
^ ^a ^b Bamford,R & Shailes,G (2007). The Story of Oxford Speedway. ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0
^ Lawson,K (2018) “Rebels 1975 – The Last Season”. ISBN 978-0-244-99725-0
^ "Rider averages 1929 to 2009" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 August 2023.