Speedway arrived in Rochdale at the
Athletic Grounds on 25 August 1928 with a scratch event. It was the inaugural year of the new dirt-track racing sport that had arrived from Australia. The creation of speedway in Rochdale was the brainchild of Alec Dovener but he had to relinquish his interest due to poor health. The success of the first year led to a large increase of fixtures the following season and a new team simply called Rochdale were founder members of the
English Dirt Track League. Racing continued in 1930 until the end of August, when it was decided to go into voluntary liquidation. Forty years had passed when in 1970, speedway returned to the Athletic Grounds and a team were reformed by the promotion from the
Belle Vue Aces. The team known as the Hornets (basically the
Belle Vue Colts) would give the junior riders of Belle Vue a chance to progress under the control of
Dent Oliver. The Hornets finished in a creditable third place during the
1970 British League Division Two season, with riders
Eric Broadbelt and
Taffy Owen recording excellent averages. The track was not a good shape and proved to be unpopular with supporters. The safety fence was unusual in that it was made of steel plates supported on wire ropes. For the 1971 season the Hornets brought in
Alan Wilkinson and
Peter Collins (a future
World Champion). The Hornets finished 9th but at the end of the season they moved on to
Ellesmere Port. == Season summary ==