britmet

New Zealand North Island Sidecar Championship. Russell Stuart and Andrew Parker took the NZ North Island Sidecar Speedway Championship at OceanView Speedway, Wanganui, yesterday March 17th, adding the trophy to that of their National success at Meeanee in January. The South Island title is raced for at Oreti Park, invercargill next week, Sat. 24th. March. Find results of all NZ and Aussie championships, as well as for other national and World titles HERE

Easy answer to that, - bring back Second Halves. I'm sure there's many youngsters that would jump at the chance for on-track time, even though no pts money.

Last weekend, March 10th, saw the staging of the outstanding State Sidecar Speedway titles in South Australia and Western Australia, (Tasmania and Nthn Territory have not held state title mtgs since 2012.) At Gillman SA, Trent Headland & Darryl Whetstone went through the card unbeaten, New Zealander Andrew Buchanan with Denny Cox in the chair taking 2nd place from Mark Plaisted & Ben Pitt. (Ht points: 15, 14, 13 respectively.) The WA title meeting at Pinjar Park was full of excitement as veteran Brad Willis, with Jesse Thomas as chair-man, had to do it the hard way, - again and again - , much deserved after a 34+ year wait ! After 3 wins from 4 rides Wills lost a coin toss for a place in the Final alongside unbeaten Scott Charsley & Morgan Cornwell, (4 wins from 4 rides; all heats 3-man races), the other 11 pointers Chad Harvey & Jamie Thomson going directly into the Final. Wills, riding with Thomas for the first time, had to take the flag in the 'Last Chance' semi to join them, which he duely did. In the Final the hitherto unbeaten Charsley & Cornwell made a good start from gate 1 and led for 3 laps, with Wills at the back in third place, but creeping up on the leaders. On the final charge down the back straight Harvey blasts underneath Charsley followed by Willis. Out of turn four all three outfits were bunched together, but Harvey gave a little ground heading to the flag, enough for Brad Willis & Jesse Thomas to squeeze by. A great race, - the crowd went wild: Brad Willis, - third in 1983/84, third in 1995/96 - , had finally made it. The Sidecar scene moves next to the International 'biggies', with the FIM Oceania Sidecar Championship on Sat. 31st, and the FIM 1000cc World Cup the following day, Sun. April 1st., both at Gillman, SA. The Australian National sidecar title is raced for at Tamworth, NSW, on April 14th.

Nordic Final, Varkaus, Finland, 10.2.2018 1. Martin Haarahiltunen, SWE, 15, - , +3 2. Niclas Svensson, SWE, 10 + 3 +2 3. Stefan Svensson, SWE, 14, - , +1 4. Jonas Andersson, SWE, 10 +2 +0 5 .Mikael Flodin, SWE, 10 +1 6. Timo Kankkunen, FIN, 11 +NS(inj'd) http://www.speedwaychampions.com/ice-champions.php

Many happy returns, - Top man.

RIP Henryk Zyto

Marc Bisson was Runner-Up to Danny Warwick in the first resurrected 'ACU British Sand Racing Championship' of 2011. The historical background to Sand Racing and all the Guernsey 'Sand Ace' results from 2006, as well as a summary of the Championships of 1970 - '90, can be found here, (scroll down to the last section.) http://www.speedwaychampions.com/long-track-champions.php -

Top 5 Channel Islanders - 1 - Hugh Saunders 2 - Marcus Bisson 3 - Stefan Dunne 4 - Dave Patten 5 - Terry le Maine

The RSA seems to have been overlooked, so here's my top 5 South African Riders, - 1 - Henry Long 2 - Doug Davies 3 - Dennis Newton 4 - Fred Wills 5 - Denzil Kent I haven't overlooked Buddy Fuller, but HL and DD at 1 & 2 can't be refuted. Dennis Newton is there by virtue of having the greatest number of SA national senior titles, even though English born: he was naturalised and living there at the time of taking most of them, and was a UK senior league rider at his peak. Denzil Kent was also not S.Africa born, but from Southern Rhodesia, - not sure if he ever took up SA citizenship.

Swedish Final, Hallstavik, 24.2.2018 Ht Pts: Niclas Svensson 15 Martin Haarahitunen 14 Ove Ledstrum 13 Jonas Andersson 12 (+1, SF) Jimmy Olsen 11 (+3) Stefan Svensson 10 (+2) Mikael Flodin 8 (+FX) FINAL: 1st M.Haarahitunen, 2nd Niclas Svensson, 3rd Ove Ledstrum, 4th Jimmy Olsen. http://www.speedwaychampions.com/ice-champions.php

Indeed, . . Ian Champion, Midland Juniors Riders Champion, 1966 @ Brafield, with a 15pt max . . http://www.speedwaychampions.com/regional-championships.php .

Jaimon Lidsey the new U21 Aussie Champion at Mildura today. . . www.speedwaychampions.com

2018 New Zealand Speedway Championships today, Jan. 6th : SOLOS 1 - Bradley Wilson-Dean , 2 - Andrew Aldridge 3 - Ryan Terry-Daley at Moore Park, Christchurch. SIDECARS 1NZ – Russell Stuart / Andrew Parker 2NZ – Wayne Lett / Chris “Chatty” Chatfield 3NZ – John “Handbag” Hannon / Bryce Rose at Meeanee Speedway, Napier. www.speedwaychampions.com

jack Holder takes the Victoria title at Albury-Wodonga.

We covered this just 5 mths ago Steve, (incl'g your own contibutions,) but to repeat my view put forward then, QUOTE. Leif 'Basse' Hveem's record of successes make's Harrfeldt and Eide look like also-rans. On the international scene he was unsurpassed by any other fellow countryman, with Norwegian, Nordic, European and World Championship titles on the speedway and Long Track. . His record reads; SPEEDWAY - Norwegian champ 8x ; (Harfeldt 4x, Eide 5x) - European champ 1x ; ( SH & RE - nil ) - Nordic Champ 8x [3 forerunners + 5 Off'l ] ; (SH & RE nil ) LONG TRACK - Norwegian champ 8x ; (SH 3x, RE nil ) - Nordic champ 8+, [3 inter. years winner unknown] (SH & RE nil ) - World Champ 3x [as Euro forerunner] (SH & RE nil ) Whether you saw him ride or not, these figures make the question of the No.1 Norwegian a 'no contest.' END QUOTE

. Overall points scores after the 5 tour meetings, - 2 Test Matches (unofficial, won by NZ,) and 3 Individual 'Shoot-outs'. Fuller details at Speedway Champions

. Not raced for since 2015, as you rightly say. That season concluded with Dan Hasley of Mildenhall defeating Buxton's Ryan Blacklock. You can see all the Holders, from inception, HERE. as well as Gold and Silver Helmet winners. .

Back in the '60s Trevor Redmond reckoned that if he could break even through the season then his promoters share of the Wembley Final payout was what made the year profitable. Of course that's all long gone.

. You can find the full scores of the qualifying heats and result of the 5-man Dunedin Final on the Sidecar Speedway page of the Champions website HERE . Winners were Trent Headland & Daz Whetstone

' I too saw Bjorn K, win his championship at Wembley in 1965. In that same year that he took the Speedway World Chmpshp Knutsson also won the Long Track World Chmpshp forerunner, (known then as the European 1000m Chmpshp.) So no problem with bigger tracks, I'd suggest. Only Mauger and Gundersen ever did that double in the same season, in 1972 and '84 resp'ly.

. Who'll be the British boys this season ? - and is there any change by the ACU as to nominating for the WMs ?

. It depended on what decade you're going back to. It changed often over time. So no point in believing that what you recall it to have been in 19XX will be what it'll be in 2018. BSPA need to give us their new ruling.

. Read a book for a while !

. i) Not so ! ! ii) Its 3-day mtg,- nobody expects everything sorted in half the time.

. Individuals 'Shoot Out' @ Oreti pk, Invercargill today, - Final won by Shane Hudson & Cameron Bell, 2nd Erwin Tree & Brett Pubben. ( Headland ex'd, Golding e/f; Buchanan n/f, - infield.) Next stop, Dunedin, 22nd. .