BL65

If a league match, for example, is abandoned without the result being declared: - no team points are awarded regarding the league table - no rides and points count in the riders' averages - the fixture does not count in official 'records of achievement', so effectively the races completed become unofficial - if a rider sets a new best time in an unofficial 'race', such as in a practice it does not count as an official record ..... so why would a track record time set in an abandoned meeting stand? On the other hand: - the riders will have been paid for the races they competed in - at the time the races took place they were 'official' until subsequently deemed otherwise - if a team drops out of the league the results are expunged from the records - if a team drops out of the league the riders' scores no longer count in their averages - expunged results are no longer official, although they were at the time they were achieved - a track record set during a meeting subsequently removed from the official records still stands ...... so why wouldn't a track record time set in an abandoned meeting still stand. In my opinion the record should stand even if the meeting is abandoned. It was an official race when it took place. Ivor Brown held the track record at Cradley Heath for nearly 6 years with a time of 68.4 seconds set against New Cross on 20th July 1963. Eric Boocock eventually set a new record of 67.0 seconds on 12th May 1969. In 1963 New Cross dropped out of the Provincial League in August and the results were expunged from the official records. The meeting at Cradley Heath was 'official' at the time it took place. Subsequently, Cradley Heath had the league points from the meeting taken away, Ivor Brown had the points scored taken away but he kept the track record.

According to the Beatles' song, 'Money Can't Buy Me Love' and there was certainly no love lost between them.

Surprising that it took until 1969 for Ivan to move away as the catalogue of disagreements between the pair started in 1964.

Newport County, a Welsh equivalent, formerly of Somerton Park, are in a comfortable mid-table position in Division 2. Poole Town were relegated from the Southern League after leaving Poole Stadium in the 1990s but are now currently back in the Southern League Premier Division South, currently three points clear of the relegation zone. Fleetwood Town still play at Highbury Stadium and have progressed from non-league football to currently play in Division 1 of the football league, although in danger of relegation. All three clubs have re-formed at various times.

Not forgetting Billy Yates (Preston) and Edwin Youngs (Norwich).

That seems conclusive enough.

How many sources state that Erik's time was 56.7? If two or more then it remains a puzzle at present. The only other thing that springs to mind was that it was an error/typo and should have been 57.6 rather than 56.7. Do the meeting reports refer to Erik breaking the track record? If not, then......

Around that time changes were made to the track. The official distance for four laps of speedway actually increased from 1234 yards to 1274 yards but the alterations led to faster racing.

The split could have been averted in one of two ways. Firstly, a PL team from 1963 could have joined the NL to replace Southampton. (Norwich did not close until the end of 1964). Wolverhampton as reigning PL champions were the 'chosen ones' but there was never any prospect of Mike Parker going down that route. Even if he had been persuaded to do so, Parker was still in expansionist mode and nothing was going to stop him opening new tracks. He had lost part of his empire (an interest in Middlesbrough and Stoke) at the end of 1962 when he and Reg Fearman went their separate ways, so he had some ground to make up. The second option was one league comprising NL and PL tracks. The NL promoters would almost certainly not have wanted Newport and Sunderland to be included, but probably the only way amalgamation could have come about at that point would have been for them to back down and allow the new tracks in. The issue was that the NL promoters believed this would have made the league 'too big'. With Southampton's demise the NL was down to 6 teams. Rayleigh did not stay in the league for 1964 and with the closure of Stoke this reduced the number of tracks to 11. Subsequent events showed that there was no reason why a new league of 19 teams could not have worked, i.e. the 17 remaining tracks from 1963 plus the new ones at Newport and Sunderland. After all, the new British League of 18 tracks in 1965 was increased to 19 in 1966. Glasgow would have opened anyway as it was a relocation of Trevor Redmond's promotion from St Austell. Trevor finally found a (slightly) more permanent home for his team after being based at Neath in 1962 and St Austell in 1963. West Ham would almost certainly have fallen by the wayside as Charles Ochiltree and co. only re-opened the track in 1964 to make the NL numbers up.

Persson did not ride in 1966, he was doing National Service I believe. Two other riders who missed 1965 were Chum Taylor and Neil Street, although both were perhaps past their best in 1966.

You beat me too it. Well done!

Any reason for including 8 Hammers' riders? Without number 8 Ede the gap would be greater. In 1966 the Dukes had 36 matches, whereas Hammers had 34 in 1965. It could be argued that Halifax had to maintain higher scores over more matches, or conversely with the addition of another weaker team in King's Lynn there was a greater chance to boost their averages. Halifax beat the Stars 53-25 at The Shay, although King's Lynn won 42-26 at home, one of Halifax's nine defeats in 36 matches - on 19th October when the league was already won (and Maury Robinson failed to score when replacing Bert Kingston).

An expensive night out if all four of them had to pay to get in. Thank goodness for press passes when Eric Linden turned up in later years, at Wimbledon in particular, accompanied by Angus Kix, Rick Eldon, Danny Carter, James Oldfield, Bob Charles and co. Ronnie Greene clamped down on the number of free passes during the 1950s but Eric always sneaked his 'mates' in unseen. Perhaps he had copied John H's earlier methods.

By the closing weeks of the season, in my view, Wolverhampton had the best-balanced team in the league. Three riders (Pete Jarman, Jim Airey and Bob Andrews) ended the season with averages over 8.00; Tommy Sweetman and Cyril Francis averaged above 7.00, with British Finalist Gordon Guasco just a fraction under 7.00; reserve Brian Maxted at around 5.50 was keeping Jimmy Bond (4.50) out of the team. The team had an impressive late-season run, with results including wins against Wimbledon (50-28), West Ham (52-26), Exeter away (48-30), Newport (64-14 - sorry, Bob), Glasgow (56-21) and Hackney 44-34 (the last two without Aussie-bound Airey. In between, there was a narrow defeat at Swindon (36-42) when the Robins had to resort to using Barry Briggs as a tactical substitute.

Mike Coomber replaced Geoff Hughes as the regular reserve in the Wimbledon team. The other change made was the introduction of former Cradley Heath rider John Edwards towards the end of April.

Can anyone provide the following details please? 21st April 1964 - Ivan Mauger's winning time in the Saints Scratch Race Final 12th May 1964 - Sunderland v Glasgow, all second half results 26th May 1964 - Sunderland v Newcastle, all winner's times in the The Roker Park Trophy

Updated second half results: Handicap Race Dave Collins (20), Ray Day (20), Paul Sharples (scr), Ken Cameron (10), Brian Oliver (10) 73.8 Tigers Tear-Up Ht 1: Monk, Jarman, Guasco, Ovenden 70.4 Ht 2: K Sharples, Collins, Stone, Ridgeon 72.4 Ht 3: McDermott, Airey, McMillan, Julian (f) 73.0 Ht 4: Collins, Day, P. Sharples, Coombes (f) 72.0 Final: K Sharples, Monk, McDermott, Collins (f) 72.4

In February 1961 Wimbledon was mooted as the most likely venue for the final of the new competition. Harringay then began to be talked about as a better choice for two reasons, firstly that it was neutral and secondly that it could accommodate a much larger crowd than Plough Lane. The decision to stage the meeting at Harringay was announced at the end of the first week in March. It was considered unlikely that a sufficiently large crowd would be attracted to Wembley to make hosting the final there a viable proposition.

In early 1929 the services of Beckett and Skid Skinner were enlisted to assist in the construction of a track in Marseilles. Speedway Researcher (February 2007 Vol 10.2) included the following: Those hell raisers Skid Skinner and Clem Beckett enjoyed their eight weeks in the South of France but at one stage they got a little bored. Having found that guns were freely available in France they got themselves tooled up. A few hours target practice created a bit of a disturbance which literally reached the ears of the local gendarmes who threw both of them into the slammer. With much argument, from amongst others the British Consul, they were released with a paltry 20 francs fine and a promise that they would not do it again.

Another Speedway Researcher article, this one by Alan Bates in September 2012 (15.12): The first appearance of speedway in the Soviet Union is believed to have taken place in 1930 when a Lancastrian called Clem Beckett took a squad of riders to Russia. They performed during a Physical Training Festival at Dynamo Stadium in Moscow. The spectators are said to have been amazed at the incredible speed of the riders around the cinder track. In an article, in the ‘Soviet Union’ magazine by the deputy chief engineer of the Lenin Stadium, M. Goldin, states that the first speedway in the USSR was held on the day before the Sports Festival. The top athletes were worried that their performances would suffer if the track was churned up by the bikes. In the end it was decided to lay a protective layer of brick chippings, mix it with clay and put a heavy roller on it, When the speedway was over the upper layer was then swept off.

An extract from an article titled ‘Clem Beckett’s Suspension’, which appeared in the Speedway Researcher magazine (Volume 16.4, March 2014): It seems that Clem wrote an article which was published in the 14th January 1931 edition of the Daily Worker in which it is claimed he exposed the commercial exploitation of professional motor-cyclists by dirt track promoters. The article was headed “Bleeding The Men Who Risk Their Lives on the Dirt Track”. The article goes on to say that a Mr E.B. Ware, a stipendiary steward of the Auto Cycle Union (ACU) attempted a reply a few days later. It seems that the Daily Worker considered Mr Ware’s response to be feeble and evasive which permitted Clem the opportunity to have two further blasts at the promoters on 17th and 20th February. The upshot was that three months later the ACU took the unprecedented action of handing out an international suspension to Clem. In the eyes of the Manchester Evening Chronicle this action appeared a bit harsh to say the least and described the ACU actions as “the most remarkable in the history of speedway racing, for it has nothing whatsoever to do with the rider’s conduct on the track.” However, and somewhat oddly, the Manchester Evening Chronicle went on to suggest that if he were to apologise “it would put matters right”. The Daily Worker went on to say that Comrade Beckett will not apologise. He is a worker-sportsman and as such will continue to fight the tyrannical powers exercised by the governing bodies of capitalist sport. It seemed that the loss of dirt track activity did not deter Clem from making a living riding bikes as he took himself off to Germany to ride on the Wall of Death which the Daily Worker described as “a thrilling exhibition of motor-cycling skill and daring”. Clem was also to become a correspondent for the Daily Worker and died fighting for his socialist ideals during the Spanish Civil War.

Excerpts from the book '50 Days of Speedway, Sunderland in 1964': “It would probably be appropriate to describe him (Parker) as a successful man in business but, overall, he had many more failures than successes in speedway promotion. He did not prolong his association with tracks that were not making money for him.” “By April 1964 when Mike Parker and Bill Bridgett opened Sunderland speedway, excluding Newcastle and Wolverhampton, which were their speedway home bases, the time Parker had been associated with the other tracks he had been involved with averaged just 13 months. This was the track record of a man with a focus on short-term profitability rather than long-term development…. the only major team trophy success during his association with the club (Newcastle) was the Provincial League title in 1964, following the demise of Sunderland.” “Len Silver made a success of Hackney post-Parker. The key to that track becoming a viable proposition was ensuring that a good show was put on for spectators, with a competitive team which was exciting to watch, a lesson which Mike Parker failed to learn at several of his short-lived tracks. Reg Fearman, his former business partner in the early days of the Provincial League, says that Parker 'had no feel for speedway'. Parker was racing midget cars at Belle Vue in the 1950s, until the speedway riders complained about the cars causing damage to the track. He was encouraged to find a track of his own, hence the meetings staged at Bradford, Liverpool and Cradley Heath in 1959. It was obvious to him that speedway was likely to be more profitable than the midget cars and so he became a speedway promoter as well as a car driver. He was party to some poor business decisions and/or team planning when taking on Liverpool, Bradford Greenfield, Leicester and Hackney during the PL years. Newcastle was his success during the 1960s and he can take credit for bringing back Ivan Mauger to the UK, although even Ivan got fed up with him eventually. Parker took a back seat role at Stoke, Middlesbrough, Newport and Wolverhampton, which had 'speedway men' at the helm and all three lasted more than a single season as a result. In the British League era his involvement at Nelson, Crayford, Doncaster and Bradford was also painfully short. Some may describe him as hard-nosed and astute but his choice of venues to operate from indicated poor decision making more often than not. By comparison many non-Parker tracks which opened or returned to league speedway in the 1960s had a more impressive life-span, such as Berwick, Cradley Heath, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Halifax, King's Lynn, Long Eaton and Sheffield.

Speed Track promoters were Harry Bastable and Alan Eagles. They also staged indoor racing on a concrete surface at Granby Halls, Leicester in January/February 1972 and January/February 1973, as well as on a board surface at Whispering Wheels Roller Skating Rink, Temple Street, Wolverhampton in December 1971 and January 1972. There was a practice event at the Solihull venue on 29th February 1972, with Harry Bastable and Alan Harvey initially testing the ice. The practice then featured a 'match' between teams labelled Birmingham City and Midland Select. Cyril Jones and Joe Hughes also took part, after recently participating in the World Ice Racing Championship in Switzerland. The tyres were fitted with 150 studs and 'low burning oil' was used to keep exhaust emissions down. The meeting on 13th March was described as the first on ice in England, although the Midlands-based riders were scheduled to race against a team in Scotland (in Edinburgh) the day before. Only a few weeks earlier the rink in Hobs Moat Road was in danger of being sold, with speculation that the site was to be used for warehousing. The rink was under-used at the time. The result of the meeting on 13th March was Birmingham City 40 Midland Select 47. The Select team clinched victory with a last heat 5-1. Scorers were: Birmingham City: Corradine 9, Moss 8, Harrison 6 Harvey 5, Hughes 4, Winwood 4, Browning 3, Jones 1 Midland Select: J. West 14, Wilson 10, Darby 8, Bowden 7, R. West 4, Challenor 4, Dutton 0, Perkins 0

A practice session was held at the White City Stadium, Sloper Road, Cardiff on 22nd December 1928, during which Arthur Franklyn and Clem Beckett were timed over one lap. This was followed by an organised meeting on 26th December 1928, at which Franklyn beat Spencer 'Smoky' Stratton in the final of the South Wales Scratch event. Stratton gained revenge to win the final of the Golden Helmet, Franklyn coming second. Clifford 'Champ' Upham won the Cardiff City Trophy, with Jack 'Lightning' Luke second in the final.

According to the Evening Despatch newspaper a happy holiday crowd numbered close on 10,000, but the frost-affected track was not at its best.