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After almost two decades of inactivity speedway was to return to Rhodesia in 1971, thanks to the efforts of a Scot, former Edinburgh Monarchs' rider, Alex Hughson, - and not just at its former heart of Bulawayo but also at Salisbury, (today's Harare,) and Gwelo, (today's Gweru,) in the Midlands Province.
Below is a link to colour cinefilm recently found of the 1971 revival season, action from three meetings is shown:–
- a
National League encounter between Bulawayo Warriors and Salisbury
Monarchs on 16th
January won by Bulawayo 37-35; - the first ever meeting at Gwelo on 17th January, a drawn Challenge match at 36 points apiece, where the local Eagles faced the Warriors;
- a 23rd January National League fixture at Bulawayo where the Warriors took on the Gwelo Eagles and edged to a 35-34 victory.
The film starts with the Bulawayo v Salisbury meeting and the Gwelo v Bulawayo and Bulawayo v Gwelo matches follow at 04:49 and 06:00 minutes into the film respectively. - click icon, (no audio but good quality film.)
Reproduced via the following link is the story of the rebirth of speedway in central Africa, and its consequential revival in South Africa. Written by speedway journalist Dick Barrie, it was included as one chapter in 'Ivan Mauger's World Speedway Book' (rt.,) published in 1973.
Salisbury Monarchs 1972
Roni Fergsuson, Ian McMillan, Geoff Curtis (cptn on bike,) Tom Leadbitter; knlg: Brian Collins, Dave Hemus
Glamis Stadium, - 1st & 2ns bends . . . . .
. . . . 3rd & 4th bends, (photographed in 1974)
.Bulawayo Showgrounds, Feb. 1971 - Best Pairs Championship,
- Lt > Rt: Geoff Curtis, Barry Duke, Bob Young, Laurie Etheridge,
(Aust & Sal'by) (GB & Bulo) (Aust & Sal'by) (GB & Bulo). 
Reverse view from the Bulawayo stand, looking at bends 3 & 4 of the huge 410yd track..jpg?timestamp=1515687622123)
Bulawayo Warriors, 1972.
Stdg: Laurie Etheridge, Pip Harris, Malcolm Brown, Squack Harris;
Kneeling: Alan Cowland, Odd Fossengen; on bike skipper Peter Prinsloo.
Gwelo-born Peter
Prinsloo was 3x Rhodesian Champ
and Golden Helmet holder, as well as
SA National, SA Open, SA MRC and Southern African
Champion between the years 1974 to '86. 
Promoter Alex Hughson and Dave 'Squack' Harris (on his JAP) at the Bulawayo Showground, 1971
Gwelo Eagles 1971/72:
Stdg: Bob Young, Bob Valentine, Oyvind Berg, Chris Prinsloo, Abe Koekemoer;
Kneeling: Norman Strachan, Dave Jessup.
Chris Prinsloo was the brother of Peter P. and father of Deon Prinsloo, Wimbledon Don of 1990,'91.
Gwelo action: Gwelo Eagles v. Bulawayo Warriors, Dec.4th 1971.
Malcolm Brown in Y/B leads Dave Jessup.
Salisbury action: Monarch Brian Collins in 1972
1972 End-of-Season party at Bulawayo, given by sponsor, Clayton Cragg: Stdg; Bob Valentine, Tom Leadbitter, (Cragg d'ghtr,), Alan Cowland, (sponsors 3) Odd Fossengen, Dave Jessup, Ovind Berg, Mrs Cragg, Laurie Etheridge; Frt: Brian Collins, Geoff Curtis, Malcolm Brown, (Cragg family), Dave Hemus.
During the
five years of speedway racing in Rhodesia following its
re-introduction in 1971, league racing competitions were uppermost in
the organizers plans each season, but not always effectual. A
Rhodesian National League (NL) between the 3 towns of Salisbury,
Bulawayo and Gwelo was concluded in the first 2 seasons, but after
political tension in the local area caused the closure of Gwelo in
December '71, (an intention to re-open when the situation eased
didn't materialise,) the optimism was subdued.
In early 1972 a
National Handicap Lge (NHL) between 3 teams was set up, and staged at
Bulawayo and Salisbury, the Gwelo Eagles' matches being 'away'
meetings. Results of these 3 leagues, and riders scores for the season, are given below.
With European rider interest diminishing and
defaulting to promoter Hughson's Scottish links, it
wasn't until 1975, under a new promotion of Ian Hoskins, Malcolm
Brown, (a 1972 visiting rider,) and local car dealer Colin Underwood
operating the Salisbury and Bulawayo tracks, that another league
competition was attempted.
A 4-team 'Rhodesia-South Africa
Speedway League' was drawn up, featuring a team from each home track plus a
Gwelo and a Johannesburg team, the latter of visiting riders from the
RSA. The
original intention was that six league matches would be held, three
at Bulawayo and three in the capital, but only one meeting, at
Bulawayo on 26th April, took place. A second match at Salisbury on
10th May was cancelled because of problems with the availability of
the South African riders. Come June, with financial problems, Mssrs
Hoskins and Brown withdrew, and Underwood took sole control, but at
the end of 1975, he went bankrupt, resulting in the sale of all the
speedway fixtures and fittings at Bulawayo.
Results and full riders' point scores of each match in all 4 leagues can be seen HERE.
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League tables, - 1971, 1971/72, 1975 Supporters pennants
(Aussie Curtis was to die in a track accident at Sydney Showground in Dec. 1973.)
Gwelo-born Peter Prinsloo started riding speedway in January 1971 at the re-establishment of the sport in Rhodesia. By the time of the re-opening of the second '71/72 season he was scoring doubles figures and topping the score chart for Bulawayo Warriors, thanks to a European summer in UK, riding for promoter Redmond's Wembley Lions and a loan period with second division Ipswich. In London he'd pulled up no trees until suddenly coming good on the last day of September at ipswich with double figures, and he continued that form in the following matches to average 7.77 in the month of October '71. In the second home season his form was on a par with the visiting British riders, taking 3 National and 2 South African titles by 1973.
Prinsloo returned to the UK in1976 for Exeter, racing there with Falcon's skipper Ivan Mauger in the senior league for 4 season, before transferring to nearby Poole in 1980, where he had his best British season for a c.m.a. of 7.26 points.
Shown below are the Fixture Lists of each Rhodesian season during the '70s, along with all known results. After 1973 the speedway seasons were limited to March-to-December, to avoid the rainy period.
In the '72/73 and the short 1973 campaigns, bikes were limited to a handful of scratch and/or handicap races. The Salisbury opening attendance figure of 14,840 was surpassed at the first composite meeting held on March 29 1972 when an all-time record crowd of 16,000 paid to watch the 4-wheel classes of TQ, Sprint and Stock Car races for the first time, (bikes being confined to just 2 heats.)
The last season of solo speedway was 1976, though sidecar speedway was introduced that year, both classes as support events to the 4-wheel motor speedway races, with limited detail being known.
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1973 & 1974
1975 & 1976
Aces v. Cavaliers, 9.8.'75 i) Australian Neil Webb being pushed off;
ii) Neil Webb, of Bulawayo Aces, leads Chris Prinsloo, (Sal'by/Gwelo Cavaliers,) and Aces Vic Rich.
iii) Neil Webb in full flight.
iv) In another meeting at Bulawayo Showground in 1975 Neil Webb (Aust., inside), Eddie Payne,
Zak Koekemoer and Peter Prinsloo (outside), shoot from the tapes
v) Eddie Payne crosses the line. Eddie Payne with Ole Olsen, Salisbury 1975
Programmes from 1975, incl'g the WCSS,
('World Champions Super Series') at Bulawayo.
Egon Muller GY, John Louis GB, Barry Briggs NZ, Ivan Mauger NZ, Ole Olsen DK, Scott Autrey US.
Denzil Kent Interview.
4-page article on a Bulawayo-born Denzil Kent interview in July 2011 by Tony McDonald of Backtrack magazine; he talks of the highs and lows of his career in the 1980s, his present-day activities in Edenvale, and his hopes for the future. (See also DVD clip of interview on Gallery p5.)
S. African- and Rhodesian-born Riders in British Speedway
The accompanying table and its brief review lists those riders. Peter Prinsloo, Mike Ferriera and Denzil Kent proved to be the most successful Rhodesians to race in Europe.
records between Rhodesia and South Africa,both home & away between 1953 and '75, are detailed HERE . 
Nat'l Champions & G.H. Holders
The
Malcolm Brown Album - a
collection of photographs from Malcolm Brown, former Hackney and
Leicester rider, who spent 2 seasons in Rhodesia, as both rider and
as promoter/rider.
A London East End lad, Brown started his riding
career as a cycle speedway 'skid kid',
learning real speedway at the Rye House
training school after national service with the Royal Signals Corp's
White Helmets stunt team. He joined
the Hackney Hawks team in 1964, transferring to Leicester
Lions in 1969 until his UK retirement in '74. The entertainer in Malcolm came to the fore at Hackney, - and continues to this
day at the age of 80-plus - , be it entertaining on bikes, racing, as a
singer in night-club cabaret, or acting on the small and the big
screen since settling in the USA almost 30 years ago.
After
the 1971/72 season riding in Southern Rhodesia Malcolm Brown retired
from racing in Britain and moved with his family to Bulawayo
in '74, The following season he joined with Ian Hoskins and a local
businessman as promoters of the Showground and the Salisbury tracks,
donning the leathers once more. After disastrous weather he and
Hoskins sold out mid season and Malcolm opened his own car
dealerships, as well as running a nightclub where he performed both
comedy and song. 1982 saw Brown return to UK to open a
nightclub in Cornwall, and after 5 years he moved again, to his final
destination, Florida. Forever a showman, TV and film support roles plus nightclub appearances continued, and today he he owns a cleaning business in
Palm Beach.
Pits shots, dope & oiling.
at Bulawayo, 1972 . . . . . . .. and 1975, inside Dave Hemus.
1975 Match Race for the Golden Helmet, with Peter Prinsloo leading.
A day away from the track, but Brown upsets the locals !
with, L>R: Alan Cowland, Laurie Etheridge, Brown at the stake, Tom Leadbitter, Brian Collins.
More of Brown's snapshots, - from East End skid-kid to US film star,
via army display team, comic capers, cabaret, and Christmas TV in Rhodesia.
Lft: Iain Harper, the Matabeleland Motor Cycle Club Scrambles Champion of 1967 also drove Formula 2 Stock Cars at Bulawayo in 1972 and 1973. Alan Harris (ex-Bulawayo Warrior) was his brother-in-law.
Rt: Vic Rich rode speedway in the 1975 Rhodesian season.
After an hiatus of two years speedway racing was revived at the Glamis Auto Raceway in Salisbury in 1979 and re-introduced as a designated class in the programme of motorsport events held at the venue. Familiar names to once again compete in the speedway class from the last season of racing in 1976 were Rod Ferreira, brother of speedway ace Mike Ferreira, and Ray Barclay whilst Jon Bower had recently returned to Rhodesia after five years spent in the UK.
Further information on this 1979 season is not readily available but it is known that in September the race to be crowned Salisbury Speedway Champion was most probably going to be hotly contested with Rod Ferreira holding a slim one point lead over Bobby Evans.
It is not known if speedway racing was staged in 1980 but in view of the political changes that occurred as Rhodesia transitioned into Zimbabwe at that time it is thought unlikely.
1980s & '90s
. A search for 'speedway' and 'Rhodesia' in the '80s and '90s produces only the appearance of native rider names, involved in South African and/or British speedway, e.g. Prinsloo, - Peter and nephew Deon - , Ferreira, Kent, Hayhow and Steen, all racing at some time or other in both hemispheres.
After the bankruptcy of the Underwood promotion in 1975 following the WCSS meetings and the disposal of all Bulawayo Showground track equipment, solo speedway ended there but continued for one more year at the Glamis Stadium, Salisbury under the auspices of the Mashonaland Stock-Car Racing Club as one of the many 2-, 3- and 4-wheel race classes, when the final curtain came down on solos at the end of 1976. There was to be no more solo speedway in Rhodesia.
In that same year Sidecar Speedway was introduced and continued for 3, possibly 5 more years beyond the solos and into the '80s. Initiator, constructor and racer Mike Younghusband, with passenger Malcolm Carrick is thought have taken the 3-wheel championship in the first season.
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Mike Ferreira, a Wimbledon Don in 1983-'85 Denzil Kent, Canterbury Crusaders 1982,'83
Silver Helmet UK Div'2 Match Race Championship, 1981:1st Leg at Edinburgh Powderhall Stadium: Mike Ferreira (Holder, Canterbury) v. Neil Collins (Challenger, Edinburgh.)
Ferreira had earlier taken the title from Steve Lawson of Glasgow. He had also been the title holder the previous year. After this defence he relinquished the title to move up into the senior league with Wimbledon.
Canterbury UK:
10 minute DVD
sampler, including sections with Denzil Kent (@ 1:40m and @ 7:45m).
Denzil speaks of the friction
between himself and fellow Rhodesian team-mate Mike Ferreira.
Action
shots and interviews from '70s & '80s. Extract courtesy of 'Retro speedway'.
James Hayhow of Zambia, 1987
Born in Northern Rhodesia, James Hayhow was one of the few speedway riders, and probably the last, to emanate from Zambia. He took up racing in South Africa, and had successes at Kings Park, Durban taking the Durban/Natal MRC 3 times in 1985. In the UK between '86 and '88 he made the odd appearance for Glasgow, Edinburgh, Rye House and Canterbury.
Salisbury-born David Steen, seen here in Reading colours,
James Hayhow Steen's 13pts top-scored for Rest of World v. N.Zealand in 1997.
