The Championship trail, 1952.

In the fifties and sixties World Championship rounds were staged on almost every track, a long trail towards the Final which was generally at Wembley. This heat comes from the round at Old Meadowbank on 19/7/52 (heat 2), and shows home man Dick Campbell leading from Ron Mountford (Birmingham), Derek Close (Motherwell) and Dan Forsberg (Birmingham). (Amazingly we also have this heat on video!) Dick won the heat but First Division man Mountford had the last laugh, totalling 14 to win the round. Campbell finished on 13, Close 12 and Forsberg 10. The crowd isn't bad either, considering the sport was on the slide a little bit after the post-war boom.

Photographer: Unknown.