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| GOLDEN HELMET CHAMPIONSHIPS  
1928 Australlia 2011 Belgium  Golden Helmets, as well as Silver Helmets, Golden Gauntlets, etc, were often presented as trophies to competition winners at many tracks by the promotional companies during the first days of speedway in the late ‘20s and early ‘30s as 2-man match races between the star riders were extremely popular with the large crowds of the boom years. They were a coveted prize: some were gilt, some silver plate, many assay-marked, a few the real thing. At an auction sale in 2004 in Australia the trophies of Frank Arthur included several hall-marked silver helmets, a 9-carat gold Golden Gauntlet and 9-carat Golden Helmet, (above,) which alone sold for $A10,000. Rt: Silver Helmet winner Vic Huxley in 1929 The British Match Race Championship competition for the 'Golden Helmet' was introduced in 1946. In Europe helmets as trophies have also been presented at track races, - speedway and Long track - , from 1929 onward, e.g. the Pardubice Golden Helmet and the German Long Track (later ADAC-)Golden Helmet. Post-war others were initiated, including Helmets at Zarnovica in Slovakia (then part of Czechoslovakia,) in 1953; at Herxheim in Germany in 1954; from 1966 an ADAC German national Silver Helmet for Grass Tracks on a rota between circuits in the GFR, complementing the ADAC Gold Helmet. The Tetrow Mountain Grass Track in the GDR added a Golden Helmet to its programme in the ‘seventies, - see 'Long Track Champions' page for details of these German Helmets competitions. At multiple circuits in the post-war Netherlands a Dutch Golden Helmet open invitation series was raced for at the Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam and elsewhere in Holland each late summer but continues now only at Veenoord, though Golden Helmet meetings have been revived in the past decade at Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. The Polish Golden Helmet meetings, a competition introduced more recently in 1961, is thriving, (plus Silver and Bronze helmets are for U21 and U19 young Polish riders,) whilst Down-Under a Golden Helmet programme for youngsters has been run by Ivan Mauger over the last two decades. Austria, South Africa, and Slovenia are amongst other countries that have run popular GH championship competitions. The following Golden Helmet and equivalent competitions are addressed on subsequent web pages:- | | | page | Zlata Prilba: | | p.GH 2 | | - Czech Golden Helmet of Pardubice | 1929 - 2011 | | | - Slovak Golden Helmet of Zarnovica | 1959 - 2011 | | | ~~~~~~~ | | | British Match Race Championships | 1931 - 1990 | p.GH 3 | - Gold, Silver, Bronze Helmets | | | ~~~~~~~ | | | Austrian Golden Helmet | 1960 - 2005 | p.GH 4 | Australian Golden Helmet | 1993 - 2009 | | Belgian Golden Helmet | 1981 - 2011 | | Dutch Golden Helmet | 1950 - 2011 | | Polish Gold/Silver/Bronze Helmets | 1961 - 2011 | | Slovenian/Yugoslav Golden Helmet | 1978 - 2008 | | South African Golden Helmet | 1928 - 2011 | (+ p.SA.) | Heathersfield (Sc) Gold Helmet | 1997 - 2011 | | Teesside (UK) Silver Helmet | 1929 - 2011 | | Eastbourne (UK) Silver Helmet | 1933 - 1961 | | | ~~~~~~~ | | | Denmark Gold Bar | 1959 - 2000 | p.GH 5 | Bremen (W.Gy) Golden Key | 1959 - 1988 | | Meissen (E.Gy) Silver Steelshoe | 1973 - 2011 | | Cradley (UK) Golden Hammer | 1977 - 2011 | | Lonigo (Italy) Golden Gala | 1980 - 2006 | | | ~~~~~~~ | | | ADAC (Gy) Long Track Gold Helmet | 1933 - 2011 | p. LT | ADAC (Gy) Grass Track Silver Helmet | 1966 - 2011 | p. GT | ADAC-Palz(Gy) LongTrack Silver Helmet | 1954 - 2011 | p. LT | Tetrow (E.Gy) LongTrack Gold Helmet | 1958/'74-2011 | p. LT | Denmark / Germany Long Track Gold Bear | 2000 - 2011 | p. GH5 | Klein Krotzb'g(Gy) Grass Golden Pheasant | 1961 - 2010 | p. GT | Bodensee (Gy) Grass Track Golden Apple | 1972 - 1991 | p. GT | Zweibrucken(Gy) Grass Track Silver Rose | 1963 - 2011 | p. GT | | | |
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