Graham Warren
{{Short description|Australian speedway rider}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2014}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2014}}
{{Infobox Speedway rider
| image = Graham warren.jpg
| caption = Graham Warren in 1953
| name= Graham Warren
| nationality = Australian
| birth_date = 16 August 1925
| death_date = 5 October 2004
| years1 = 1948-1953, 1955
| career1 = Birmingham Brummies
| years2 = 1959-1960
| career2 = Coventry Bees
| years3 = 1961-1963
| career3 = Wolverhampton Wolves
| indivyear1 = 1949
| indivhonour1 = Queensland State Champion
| indivyear2 = 1950
| indivhonour2 = Tom Farndon Memorial winner
| indivyear3 = 1953
| indivhonour3 = Midland Riders Champion
| teamyear1 = 1948
| teamhonour1 = Anniversary Cup (Div 2) winner
| teamyear2 = 1948
| teamhonour2 = National Trophy (Div 2) winner
| teamyear3 = 1953, 1955, 1960
| teamhonour3 = Midland Cup
| teamyear4 = 1962
| teamhonour4 = Provincial Northern League winner
| teamyear5 = 1963
| teamhonour5 = Provincial League Champion
}}
Graham Warren (1926 in Suva, Fiji – 2005)Buck, B (2007) Brummies Legends, Pendragon Books. {{ISBN|0-9541671-2-0}} was an international motorcycle speedway rider{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19490610/081/0009 |title=Darling of the fans Warren can give youth its biggest speedway boost |website=Daily Mirror |date=10 June 1949 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=19 September 2024}} who finished third in the 1950 Speedway World Championship final and was a member of the Australian national speedway team.Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7524-2402-5}}{{cite web |url=https://britishspeedway.co.uk/docs/Ultimate_Index_1929-2022.pdf |title=ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022 |website=British Speedway |access-date=1 August 2023}}
Career
Warren arrived in the UK in March 1948 and signed up with the Birmingham Brummies in the National League Division Two.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000669/19480407/082/0004 |title=Birmingham speedway signing |website=Birmingham Daily Gazette |date=7 April 1948 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=23 August 2024}} The Brummies finished second and were promoted to National League Division One for the 1949 season. In sixty meetings that season, Warren was unbeaten by an opponent in twenty five of them and averaged almost eleven points a match. In the May 1948, just two months after arriving in the UK for a trial with Birmingham, Warren was selected to ride for Australia. By 1949 he was the captain of his country. In 1949, despite being in a tougher division he still scored almost ten points a meeting and he qualified for his first World Final.
In 1949, he finished third in the Australian Championship and finished second a year later in 1950.{{cite web |url=http://www.historyspeedway.nstrefa.pl/indmaustralii.php|title=Individual Australian Championship|website=Historia Sportu Zuzlowego|access-date=20 January 2023}} Also in 1950, Warren qualified and finished in third place during the 1950 Individual Speedway World Championship. In early 1951, a severe accident at a meeting in New Zealand left Warren with a triple skull fracture and his career was never to hit the heights of 1950 again.
World final appearances
- 1949 - {{flagicon|ENG}} London, Wembley Stadium - 12th - 5pts
- 1950 - {{flagicon|ENG}} London, Wembley Stadium - 3rd - 12pts
- 1952 - {{flagicon|ENG}} London, Wembley Stadium - 13th - 5pts
- 1953 - {{flagicon|ENG}} London, Wembley Stadium - 12th - 5pts