Ila Teromaa, one of the top stars of the seventies at Leicester Speedway has passed away.
A spokesperson for the club said: “We are very sad to receive the news that Ila is no longer with us. He was a popular rider during his five years racing for the Lions and is still revered by fans who remember him to this day.”
Teromaa had been riding for three years for the Tampere Aces when he came to the notice of Coventry who were keen to sign him in 1974 but a broken leg prevented that from happening. A year later he joined Leicester and the new face in British speedway climbed to third in the Lions averages, crowning a prosperous campaign by winning Finland’s Individual Championship Final.
Twelve months later Teromaa increased his match average by two points to end the year as Leicester’s highest scorer. The 1977 season was interrupted by injury, but nevertheless Ila made the number one position at Leicester his very own and was by then one of the top twenty riders competing in the UK.
In 1978 Teromaa delivered consistent figures on the domestic front for the Lions and he qualified for the World Final which was staged at the Wembley Stadium but the following season was a year to forget for the talented rider who struggled on when far from fit. Finally after five seasons at the club and scoring over fifteen hundred points he signed for Midland rivals Cradley Heath who he raced for until the end of 1981 which was his final season in British Speedway.
