Jimmy Gooch
James Everard Gooch was born on 16
November 1928 at Dagenham.
His father William Englebert
Gooch had joined the East Surrey Regiment in 1903 and after training
in 1904 had transferred to the Army Service Corps where he served
through World War 1 until he retired as a Warrant Officer.
William met and Married Eileen
Helena Kingston in December 1919 at Hackney.
They had 4 boys and a girl
with the 5th child being Jimmy who was born when the family had
returned to their East London roots to Downing Road, Dagenham.
Jimmy's childhood spanned the
war and like most young men of his generation was conscripted and so
followed his father into the Royal Army Service Corps was posted to
Germany.
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Jimmy riding for Hackney |
This proved life changing for The British
Army of Occupation has established speedway tracks where soldiers
could use stripped down army motorcycles to race around the tracks
in competitive races that drew large crowds. Some of the riders were
existing speedway stars who had been conscripted but many were
ordinary soldiers like Jimmy who discovered a talent.
Jimmy won the first of his
many trophies by becoming the British Army of the Rhine Combined
Services Speedway Champion.
Bill Kitchen who at the time
was Captain of the British Lions and one of the best known speedway
riders led a team representing ENSA out to Germany to take part in
the German Speedway racers and this led to an untapped pool of
talent from soldier racers being spotted and encouraged to join
professional teams.
In 1949 Jimmy's brother
provided sixty six pounds in cash that enabled Jimmy to buy out his
service and leave the army.
He immediately signed for the
Wembley Lions speedway team and started a career that was to last
over 20 years in speedway.
Jimmy gained a reputation as a
good pro rider without hitting the top levels of speedway and even
had a struggle to make the Lions team on a regular basis although
his fighting attitude made him a crowd favourite which he was to
remain for his entire career.
Despite more lucrative offers
Jimmy remained with the Wembley Lions team that had given him a
break until 1955 when he was loaned to Bradford and Swindon before
Wembley Lions left the National League in 1956 at which point he
transferred to Ipswich, New Cross and then Norwich until he made the
move to Oxford Cheetahs in 1964.
When he moved to Oxford Jimmy
was aged 35 years which was comparatively old for a speedway rider
but Jimmy hit the form of his life becoming not only a regular
starter but a star of the team which clinched the British title that
year.
The following year his purple
patch continued as his form improved even more and although the
Cheetahs only finished 4th in the league Jimmy finished as 10th best
rider in the league averaging 9.90 points per match.
He was selected for the first
time to race for the Great British Speedway team.
To make matters better at the
British individual Final he made the top 6 and qualified for the
World Final that was held at Wembley Stadium on 18 September 1965.
Jimmy wasn't at his best and finished 14th of 16 with 3 points
scored although each of his heats contained a rider that would to
finish in the top 4 positions.
Although he dropped out of the
top 10 riders, Jimmy contained to race for the Cheetahs and then for
Newport and Hackney where he finished his career at the end of the
1970 season when, aged 42, he was still averaging 6 points a match.
His career brought him 10
England International Caps,3 Great Britain International caps, 5
League Championship medals, 3 National Trophy Champions Medals, Two
British individual Finals and One World championship final and 1
World Team Final appearance.
He also continued to race in
the Australian and New Zealand circuits in the close season.
Jimmy swapped his racing and
his garage business in Rainham for the Essex coast firstly at
Steeple and then nearby Waterside area of Bradwell on Sea where he
became a popular villager in his riverside bungalow
Not content to enjoy a quiet retirement Jimmy enjoyed the active
life taking part in paragliding, Micro light flying, diving, sailing
after building his own yacht and even at the age of 80 did a
parachute jump for the Essex Air Ambulance Charity.
He was a regular sight cycling around the rural roads until shortly
before his sudden death on 18 July 2011.Bottom of Form
