Kent Speedway is sad to hear the news of of the passing of Kentish Speedway racing legend, Ted Hubbard on Saturday 19th. October aged 70 years after a courageous fight against liver cancer.
Ted was a Man Of Kent, born in Lydden and made his racing debut in second halves at local track at Kingsmead in Canterbury in 1969, going on to star for the local side the Crusaders for whom he rode between 1970 and 1974. Known as 'Hurricane' Hubbard, Ted rose up to being number one for Canterbury and on his Division Two (later National League) Riders' Championship debut at the famous Wimbledon track in '74 he finished runner up.
He was to make the rostrum in the NLRC on two further occasions in '76 and '79. By this time he was a Rye House Rocket having left Canterbury in 1975 to ride under Len Silver for the Hackney Hawks in the top division British League and moved onto Len's NL side in Hoddesdon also, from '76.
in 1980 Ted returned to his roots at Canterbury before one last hurrah back at Hackney and then retiring to run a successful wholesale potato farming business back in his native Kent. Ted later served as Team Manager for the Iwade-based Sittingbourne Crusaders,
He remained a regular at Speedway and Grasstrack in the county and was here (along with many other Kentish legends) at our opening meeting in 2013 where he watched proudly as his grandson Kai led the parade as meeting mascot.
We send our condolences to his widow, Jeannette, surviving children; Jason and Nicola; grandchildren; Hanna, Jay, Kai and Hari and great-grandchild, Oscar and to the rest of the family and his many friends in and out of the sport.