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You could say the same about Nicholls Harris etc riding in the championship.....

If ever a man looked like a snake.....

Passed away 16 years ago today. RIP Les.

It was one hell of a achievement BOBBATH for Rick to quality from the 1967 West Ham British Final for the world final.In a way it was an equivalent of Martin Yeates qualifying from Coventry to the Overseas final at Belle Vue in 1984 the underdog prevailing Rick did achieve more though. Briggs 15, France, Mauger, Wilson. E.Boocock, Pratt ( did brilliant) qualified--- non qualifiers were Trigg, Ashby, Maidment, Betts, Hedge, Airey, Luckhurst, N.Boocock,Broadbank, Hunter great days.

I was glad someone finally remembered to mention Rick France and Jim Lightfoot. I think I recall Boocock, France, Mountford and Lightfoot as the 3 or 4 heat leaders in 65-67. Clearly Nigel was the outstanding superstar-but lets not forget that Ron (62) Jim (63) and Rick (67) all made the World Final. How would other forumlanders rank those three???? - I think I would make it Rick, then Ron and then Jim. Pretty sure Ron and Rick worked together -a garage and repair shop maybe?. Ron was a tough customer -no question. I think he wore contact lenses. Jim I recall at the end of his career maybe riding for Long Eaton?. I attended the British Final in 1967 at West Ham where Rick qualified for the World Final-bit of an outsider to qualify I thought before the meeting. I would consider Rick as a Prov. league graduate. He advanced from West Ham at that British Final while more favoured riders e.g. Terry Betts did not. The 1967 British Final was a great meeting- a very warm evening as I recall-am sure maybe Norbold, Andoutt and Celticman could have been there. Of the Bees second strings mentioned I tended to think Col Cottrell was the best, I certainly recall Roger Hill starting out. I know that Ron Mountford has passed away, also that Rick France has been quite ill. Is Cap'n Jim still around? Think Col Cottrell has passed away-not sure re Roger Hill. The Bees were always great visitors to Somerton Park, Station Road Long Eaton and of course Leicester-always smartly turned out and always ready for a great night's racing- I think their closure was a tremendous loss to British speedway.

Didn’t Main Man advise him on everything including filling in is program for him, I know he never left his side during a meeting

Only applies to a race. Sometimes announcement of changes to a race lineup are not made in time or are indistinct. And lighting at some tracks is poor enough to make helmet colours hard to pick up.

I can’t believe anyone would want to see Adam Roynon back on a Speedway Bike, After every thing he has been through injury wise, I for one would be happy if he remained retired and and we will still have the memories of what a great entertainer ha was

Ron Mountford suffered a bad leg break early on in the 1968 season, which meant he missed all of the rest of that season and was never the same rider when he came back.

I know Chris Louis was keen to have it at Ipswich.

Poole

He's got a CL average above 4.00 and has a CL team place? Or am I misunderstanding the rules... If he is eligible... GET HIM SIGNED UP AS THE NUMBER 1 Forgot about Kelsey... Good shout, although if he's spannering for Nick and Nick is in Heat 15... It'll be a bit tight for Kelsey will it not? Wouldn't say 3.35 is a bargain, but he'd be a solid reserve imo... When was the last time he rode Brough? Don't recall him doing second halves? Dean is not ready imo... He should stick to the NJL for sure... No offence to him but it would be like Danny in the CL... In the deep end too soon, and he'd get nowhere

Honestly Kelsey Duggard must be a shoe in for the Gems; he is living in the North East now; will be swinging the spanner's for the Slovenian GP rider this season and comes in on a bargain 3.35 average. Also if you are looking to give local talent a go... Don't forget Dean Douglas... (No relation to Kieran) Regards THJ

Fantastic news for the promotion and the club on getting the British Under 21 championship final. The work put in behind the scenes fully justifies the MPA as one of the best venues for such great events. Roll on March.

Not sure that criticising a promoter for hosting this meeting is appropriate whatever axe you have to grind with him? Surely he would hold it regularly if he was bothered about nest feathering.

Sweden's top division consists of nine teams again meaning some will take place on Thursdays.

Les Owen rode from 1957- 1973 for the Coventry Bees a real stalwart for the club which is nearly unheard of these days.I read that Les and Col Smith both used to turn up at the Brandon stadium and try to get a few laps in until the great Charles Ochiltree chucked them out.Mr Ochiltree told them both if they went through the right channels ( i.e.) the training school they would both be considered the rest is history.I know when you think of Coventry you think of the great Booey boy blue and rightly so and in later years Olsen/ Knudsen but LesOwen, Roger Hill, Ron Mountford, always make me remember that brilliant Coventry race jacket RIP Les.

There are numerous posts on this forum to the effects of “Speedway is dying on its ar*e, something needs to be done”, “this time next year there will be no speedway, something needs to be done”. So this year they try something different, and it’s “ We don’t want change, we like it as it is”. Ok, it may/ may not be a good idea, but at least they are trying something different. Like 99.99999% of posters on here, I was not at the Committee meeting but if anyone was, and I don’t mean “I was told” or “ my mates great aunts sisters brother has heard”, please tell us all exactly who agreed to what.

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What like they did with Readings bid to race at Swindon, giving the NL another much needed team, exposure for a homeless club trying to increase interest with a view to finding a location for a new track while giving more NL opportunities for British youngsters??

In true BSF a pretty good thread has gone to the dogs. Shame.

Will Wolves make a pre-season change and replace Nicol with Nicholls?

Ooooohhhh, the anticipation

That would be crap. Can you imagine a sport that allows a few teams to have a massive spending advantage to buy the best players and thrash the poorer teams? It’d never catch on. Off to watch the football now.

And each season, after peeing about for donkeys using a slide rule to get seven riders as near to the limit as possible, all teams start 'level' yet, by the end of the season, one, if not more, are always miles adrift of the team that tops the table. . Usually after tinkering around for weeks signing riders not much better than the ones they are replacing, from a small pool that fits the averages that they need to build to, rather than a wider pool of 'talent' that might make a difference.. Hence they don't move forwards and their seasons are effectively over by the end of June... Market forces will dictate who they bring in if there were a wider amount of leeway as, lets be honest, not many could afford a Bartek or a Tai to turn their seasons around, however maybe a club could pick up a '6 point man' to replace a '5 point man', which could make a difference without breaking the club...? As we know, there a myriad of variables that delivers a riders average, so many of which are shall we say 'less than scientific' meaning this hardly justifies the influence they possess on the whole sport, therefore, let's spend less time trying to build a speedway team with averages as it's most important focal point, and more time building one using the actual personalities who have brought it both success and positive fan engagement...