Rayleigh Rockets
The Rayleigh Rockets were a Speedway team which operated from 1949 until their closure in 1973 from the Rayleigh Weir Stadium in Rayleigh, Essex. The Rockets closed in 1958 but re-opened again in 1960 and entered the Provincial League and then the Metropolitan League in 1964. However that was the last league racing seen until 1968 when Len Silver took over as promoter.
The Rockets rode at the stadium until 1973 when it was announced that the stadium had been sold to developers and the Rockets would need to find a new home. Len Silver took the Rockets to Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire to start the 1974 season as the Rye House Rockets. The former site of Rayleigh Stadium is now a retail park.
Many of the former Rayleigh fans now support the only Essex Speedway team remaining, the Lakeside Hammers, who race at the Arena Essex Raceway next to the Lakeside Shopping Centre.
