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norbold

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Posts posted by norbold


  1. 2 hours ago, iris123 said:

    Wouldn't it have been the ther way around, as i thought the difference was because of complying with FIM regs ? Maybe introduced when Wimbledon hosted the Internationae ?

    No, I'm sure Steve is correct.

    • Like 1

  2. 47 minutes ago, chunky said:

    To be honest, I can't say I remember that. Perhaps on of the "older" members on here can answer that? As far as I know, all times were taken from the finish post.

    I can remember when the start and finish line were in different positions at Wimbledon as Steve says, but I can't remember the dates.


  3. 53 minutes ago, BL65 said:

    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. 

    I'm sure you are right about that. So, for some of us at least, the NL/PL split was a great blessing!

    • Like 1

  4. 27 minutes ago, chunky said:

    Thing is, once Tony was in - he stayed in! Do what you want, it's fine with me; I just posted the figures...

    Actually, I don't think either should be removed. I think you were right to include them both in the first place because Tony took over from Ted, so, in a sense, their averages should be combined.


  5. 2 hours ago, chunky said:

    Thing is, the US was really a prominent speedway nation in the early days of the sport. Having evolved from board-racing into Class 'A' racing (flat-track) into speedway, there was a ton of quality American riders (and Canadians) back then.

    Very true. It is highly likely that the first speedway meetings were held in America rather than Australia if we accept that an essential ingredient of speedway is racing round oval tracks on motor bikes without brakes and sliding round the bends.


  6. On 5/22/2020 at 8:00 PM, iris123 said:

    The line-up for day 1

    Sid Chambers

    Byrd McKinney

    Eddie Spadafore

    Snooks Blankenburg

    Sprouts Elder

    Clff Self

    Chico Duarte

    Burton Albrecht

    Lou Casazza

    Bo Lisman

    Miny Waln

    Bert Lewis

    Ed Jones

    Pete Colman

    Ray Holt

    Frank Serveti

    reserves probably for both days at a guess

    Bud Johnson

    Jack Burris

    Manuel Trujill

    Lou Branch

    Whatever happened to Snooks Blankenburg?

    • Haha 1

  7. 1 hour ago, BOBBATH said:

    I'm trying to organise a speedway trip to the " Twisted Too " bar and grill in Roseville. Anybody interested, I bet the Mayor would organise a special welcome. If interested send money to my mate in Nigeria (he's a prince!!!)

    Count me in....


  8. 19 hours ago, chunky said:

    I seem to recall reading about an individual whose "First ever race" was at New Cross on Wednesday, April 17, 1946. Perhaps iris123 noted the identity of that individual?

    I think there were several people at that meeting including Speedyguy, Gustix, Mr Hyam and someone called Jack Keen who I believe came from Erith in Kent.


  9. On 2/25/2024 at 9:26 AM, jrs said:

    It's a bit frightening eh, I'd slot in at number 25, I haven't seen Gemini around the forum for a while but I think she slots in at number 16 in these days of equality.  

    Gem is still active on Facebook.

    • Like 1

  10. 17 minutes ago, iris123 said:

    Yes, but they were always heading for trouble if a London club entered. Which Hackney eventually did, and they still kept the name, which made it even stranger. 

     

    ...and New Cross!!!

    • Like 1

  11. 23 minutes ago, iris123 said:

    Nothing really, but i was just wondering if there was an explanation as to why they named the league Provincial ? Having no affinity to the league, it just strikes me as a very strange name to give it

    Presumably because all the tracks (originally) were outside London. It also harked back to the pre-War Provincial League which was an equivalent sort of second division.


  12. 2 hours ago, Beirao said:

    The top four in the BL were all former NL tracks which suggests the top heavy approach followed by picking up better second strings by mid summer paid dividends. Coventry got Les Owen back, West Ham added Tony Clarke, Oxford Stan Stevens and Wimbledon dropped Geoff Hughes though not sure who replaced him.

    West Ham's win was more to do with the great improvement in Malcom Simmons' form than in adding Tony Clarke. Malcolm was, of course, a former PL rider.


  13. 3 hours ago, E I Addio said:

    Thank you . Everything I’ve ever read about Tommy Price suggests he was a far better rider than results suggest, perhaps not in his technical skills but he certainly seems to have been a “hard man” and somewhat ahead of the game mechanically. He apparently geared his bike half a tooth lower than everyone else round Wembley on the basis that if he got in front by the first bend, he was such a hard man to pass that he was likely to hang on to that a early lead. In the workshop he drilled extra oil ways to avoid the engine failures occurring to the early J.A,P’s in those days. He also used to start warming his bike up earlier than anyone else because had a special barrel in his JAP engine although I can’t remember what it was made of, or whether it actually was a special barrel or just psychological mind games to con or intimidate the others !

    Certainly one rider I wish I’d seen and it’s probably fair to say that if WW2 had not intervened he would likely have had a much better record than he has today.

    Yes, I agree. I think Tommy Price was a better rider and more worthy World Champion (twice if you include the 1946 Riders' Championship) than he is generally given credit for. The fact he and Freddie Williams were both Wembley riders and therefore riding at home always seems to mark them down a bit.

    The "missing years", 1939-1945, are, of course, a field of endless speculation. There are a number of riders who are often touted as losing out on multiple world championships. Tommy, as you mention, but also Vic Duggan, Jack Parker, Cordy Milne, Arthur Atkinson, Eric Chitty, Eric Langton and Aub Lawson in particular. But there were many others who would have been contenders - Lionel Van Praag, Ron Johnson, Bill Kitchen, Jack Milne, Wilbur Lamoreaux....and on and on!

    • Like 1


  14. Not easy to come by. In 1992, Money for Speed was included in the BFI's Missing Believed Lost project, a list of 100 lost British feature films that it was hoped could somehow be recovered.

    Two prints were later found, one dubbed into French and the other with German subtitles. Don't know how you can get to see them though.


  15. I saw both the qualifying round at New Cross and the final at Harringay. I have to say I am not sure why Harringay was chosen. Harringay had closed in 1954, so it was a bit of curious choice. The only other meeting held there that year was the Provincial League Riders' Championship final. And they were the last two meetings ever held at Harringay.

    The qualifying round at New Cross did give us the chance to seeing foreign  riders we might not otherwise have seen. I remember seeing the Finnish rider, Timo Laine, for example.

    • Like 1
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