It was love at first sight for Wilkinson and he promptly gave up a promising rugby league career and invested his savings in a battered old belt driven Rudge.

He rode in the lower divisions for three seasons before he was offered a contract by the West Ham Hammers and stayed with the London-based club until 1939.

At the inaugural Speedway World Championship Final at London's Empire (Wembley) Stadium in 1936, Wilkinson was undefeated to score a 15-point maximum.

He was unlucky not to win the crown in 1936 as he was unbeaten in five races in the final held at Wembley, but was relegated to third place behind winner Lionel Van Praag and England's Eric Langton under a 'bonus points' system which operated during qualifying rounds.

[6] Wilkinson's 1938 championship win was considered a gutsy effort after he had actually broken his left collarbone in a meeting for West Ham the night before the World Final.

Determined not to miss the final, Bluey had the Tottenham Hotspur club doctor put his arm and shoulder in plaster.

After being involved in dozens of spectacular crashes during his speedway career and walking away from them all, Bluey was killed in a road accident in the Sydney suburb of Bondi on 27 July 1940.