Speedway
Facts:
Track name: Snoghoj Speedway
Track owner: Fredericia Motorklub of 1945
Length: 500 m.
Surface: Rolled earth.
Track record: 1,43,8 min.
Record holder: Svend Aage Engstrom, Copenhagen
Open: April 20 1947
Closed: 1951
Shortly after the end of WW2 the Fredericia Motorklub of 1945 got founded. Soon the club began building a 500 metres long speedway at Snoghøj, which officially opened the 10th of August !947. Actually there was a meeting already on April 20, when Engstrom rode the track record, that never got beaten.
Situated west of the bridge “Lillebeltsbroen” (The combined railway and road bridge from 1935) and overlooking the Lillebelt (the water between Funen and Jutland) southwards it soon got spoken of as the most beautifully located track in Denmark.
The crowd gathered around the Snoghoj track
May 22. 1949. Cup race.
The meeting began dramatically already in the first heat, when the popular Niels Nielsen from Bogense slided out too far in the bend and crashed. However he was able to ride in a later heat. In third heat the leading rider Svend Nissen fell, and Bent Jensen from Aarhus laid his bike to avoid collision. From behind two other riders sneaked through the dust without hitting any. Bent Jensen suffered some bruises and withdrew from the meeting. The track reserve C. O. Jensen from Ejby – a brother to Bent Jensen – took his place. Svend Nissen escaped unhurt, but his bike got skew and difficult to control, which led to, that he later hit a pole in the fence, broke it and damaged his front wheel. Nevertheless he was able to finish the heat.
Besides the normal prizes a series of races about “The Erritsoe Community’s Prize of Honor” a beautiful cup of genuine silver were ridden here first time.
3 riders, Orla Knudsen and Uno Jensen, both from Copenhagen and Carl Otto Jensen from Ejby rode for the fastest time for 4 laps. Orla Knudsen with 1,53,4 minute won the first and his only share in the cup.
Orla Knudsen in 1949 with the ”Erritso cup”
90 years old Svend Nissen proudly shows the beautiful Erritsoe silver cup
he finally won In 1950 after fierce competition with Irving Irvinger, who won
the cup twice, and Orla Knudsen.
The Standard riders competed for Fredericia Silver ware Industries’ s cup, which was won by Ejvind Hansen from Ejlstrup in the time 1,53,5 minute ahead of Poul Kalor and Kaj Holck Mogensen both from Odense.
Results:
All calculated on aggregate time for 3 heats of 4 laps.
Ekspert 500 cc:
Name Home Aggr. time Best heat time
1. Orla Knudsen Copenhagen 5,00,8 min. 1,49,6 min.
2. Uno Jensen Copenhagen 3,11,5 min. 2 heat 1,53,9 min.
3. C. O. Jensen Ejby 3,10,2 min. 2 heat 1,53,0 min.
4. Svend Nissen Odense 4,11,8 min. 2 heat 1,57,6 min.
5. Bent Jensen Aarhus Retired
Special 500 cc
1. Svend Aa. Rasmussen Odense 5,04,4 min. 1,52,8 min.
2. Willy Andersen Kolding 5,10,6 min. 1,54,8 min.
3. Weiling Nielsen Copenhagen 4,00,8 min. 2 heat 1,58,2 min.
4. Niels E. Nielsen Bogense 1,53,8 min.1 heat 1,53,8 min.
Standard 500 cc:
1. Ejvind Hansen Ejlstrup 5,06,4 min. 1,54,9 min.
2. Kaj H. Mogensen Odense 5,07,1 min. 1,54,8 min.
3. Poul Kalør Odense 5,09,1 min. 1,54,0 min.
4. Vitus Kelvang Kolding 6,00,2 min. 1,59,0 min.
5. Erling Holm Kolding 6,06,6 min. 1,57,4 min.
6. Erik Sørensen Vejle 6,20,3 min. 2,03,5 min.
Sidecars 1. leg:
1. Th. Sorensen Horsens 6,01,2 min. 1,59,2 min.
2. Svend Knudsen Odense 4,04,0 min. 2 heat 1,57,2 min.
3. Hans Nielsen Haderslev 4,19,9 min. 2 heat 2,09,6 min.
4. V, Jandriska Vejle 6,49,8 2,14,8 min.
Sidecars 2. leg:
1. Kresten Kristensen Aarhus 6,18,0 min. 2,06,0 min.
2. Hans Dalsgaard Vejle 6,26,0 min. 2,05,6 min.
3. Josef Koch Copenhagen 6,36,2 min. 2,07,6 min.
4. Vagn Poulsen Horsens 4,23,6 min .2 heat 2,10,4 min.
Also sidecar races were very popular, and this site’s webmaster, who as a teenager once was at Snoghoj, recalls a race where the sidecar pilot Johannes Hansen from Odense and his “sandbag” (passenger) Ejnar Hansen showed fabulous racing skill on a specially tuned Nimbus motorcycle.
Unfortunately the lifetime of this track was not very long. The hired area where the track was placed got sold on an auction in 1950 and the new owner didn’t want to have a speedway there. In 1951 the track’s “obituary” got written, see below.
If you posses any information, stories, pictures or other material regarding this track,
you kindly would make available for this website, Please do so by proceeding
to the contact page or by using the e-mail address: sk@speedwaylife.com
Thank you very much in advance.
