prodons

Famously flooded in September 1968 with great pictures of someone rowing round the track

Got a feeling that Compost is referring to a southern based team

The start line and finish line were in different places!

There’s a bit of information about his car racing career in the Speedway Star issue from August 25th 2018 that was published after his death. Peter Oakes wrote 5 pages as a special tribute to Mirac.

Sorry but I disagree with a couple of your points. I don’t think you realise how many high profile sponsors British Speedway had in the 1970’s. From the national papers (Daily & Sunday Mirror, Daily Express) through to Volkswagen, Skol, Golden Wonder and Wills, the majority of the prestige meetings benefited from blue chip backers and back page coverage. As someone else posted, I’m not aware of stadia being sold off to greyhounds etc. In most cases the speedway promotors were tenants and had little say in the matter. I think Poland have significantly benefited from civic support to bankroll or permit new stadia. The only equivalent case in the UK is with the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester.

Think Middlo captained Poole for a couple of years in the early 1980’s before stepping down. He was never number one for the Pirates, more of a handy second string.

Reg and Eddie Reeves in the early 60’s possibly?

Possibly at the same time though

Further north, am sure that Brian Havelock skippered Newcastle and possibly Middlesbrough at some point.

Trevor Hedge at Wimbledon in 1973, then the very under-rated Mick Hines from 1977-78.

Think the signing of Ravn acted as the catalyst. Had a feeling he joined Cradley around May time.

Not sure if he’s been mentioned before but Jay Pleece looked amazing riding in second halves at Plough Lane in the 1980’s and was pretty much unbeatable for the Junior Dons. Unfortunately he barely scored more than a handful of points in his entire NL career. .

Ian Thomas was the master when it came to finding loopholes in the rule book. He managed to get both Joe Owen and Bobby Beaton from the defunct BL Hull (where he also promoted) on 7.50 averages, after first getting them registered as official Number 8’s for BL teams for the 1982 season. Think he also managed to get Tom Owen’s average reduced as well after 2 injured ravaged seasons. Think this gave them 5 heat leaders: Joe Owen, Rob Hunter, Bobby Beaton, Alan Emerson & Tom Owen. No wonder they romped away with the league! Joe Owen rode 4 seasons for the Diamonds in the NL and his lowest average was 10.65..!

Think because Ipswich has a bigger capacity and will allow a larger attendance with social distancing in place.

Well done to the BSPL for getting speedway included as a test event. There must be lots of sports looking on enviously. Hope it’s a prelude to other fixtures this year.