Former Workington Comets promoter Ron Bagley has died.

Mr Bagley, who ran the club in its final season of the first era in 1981 before speedway returned to Workington in 1999, passed away following a short illness.

Mr Bagley enjoyed spells with Ipswich and Sheffield as a rider before jumping over the fence to become the Witches’ team manager in 1971.

He helped Ipswich win the Knockout Cup, dispatching Comets in the two-legged semi-finals of the competition, and clinched league titles with the Witches then Mildenhall before stunning the speedway world at the end of 1980 when he announced that he was selling his photography business and moving to Cumbria.

He took over from local garage owner Eddie Thornborrow as Workington promoter for 1981, but unfortunately, that season did not go to plan.

While it was an improvement on 1980, Comets still finished next to bottom of the league and, with dwindling crowds along with a catalogue of misfortune and injuries, lost a significant amount of money.

Ultimately, Ron Bagley was left in the difficult financial position of being unable to come to the tapes in 1982 and, after 12 seasons, the club folded.

Current Comets co-promoter and team manager Tony Jackson remembers his era vividly.

He said: “Naturally, everyone connected with the club sends its condolences to Ron Bagley’s family and friends at this very sad time.

“Ron, like Eddie the year before, struggled to get any top riders to come to Workington, which meant we were always up against it from day one.

“Ron had the inspirational, crowd-pleasing and hugely entertaining Terry Kelly leading the side as a wise and experienced old head while the early season broken ankle for the stylish Barrow-based Ian Hindle, in only his third official fixture, was a blow from which the club never really recovered. And it certainly made the difference between winning and losing several home matches.

“Nevertheless, the team certainly tried every time they took to the track and the famous home meeting against Newcastle had absolutely everything you could want from a speedway meeting and anyone that was there that night will still clearly remember it as one of the best and most incident-packed meetings ever held at Derwent Park, even now some 37 years later.

“But at the end of the day, the crowds dropped alarmingly due to a lack of success on the track and the money ran out. It really was as simple as that.

“The BSPA demanded extra financial bonds for 1982 and, despite trying to raise the necessary money in what was an unrealistic time frame, Ron eventually had to admit defeat and by the end of January, the club had to formally declare that they were unable to race in 1982.

“Despite the heartbreaking way it all ended, you have to admire Ron Bagley for taking the brave gamble of selling up and moving north from Suffolk to run the club against all the odds in the first place.

“In doing so, the club had one more season of racing that it wouldn’t have otherwise had because, if he had he not done so, 1980 would have been our last season of the first era.”