andout

Luke Becker and Austin Novratil Qualify.

OOPS forgot the link.... http://www.speedway.org/history/index.htm

Although now sadly, a defunct site its still live and may have some of what you require.

Hi Bob, I have the link here for his obituary.....looks like he lived in Cambridge..... https://necrocanada.com/deces-2018/allan-kidd-19292018/#.XAARdWhKjIU

Sad to report Allan Kidd died last night.....he had not been well for a while. Allan Kidd was born in London on June 25th 1929, He rode professionally in the UK for the Poole Pirates during his speedway career and was a one team man! He is one of the few riders to have ridden in all three divisions of the National League, and also the Provincial League . He also helped Poole to win the Third, Second, and Provincial League titles. and to this day they are the only club side to achieved this, and Allan, Ken Middleditch, and Tony Lewis are the only three riders to have won championship medals in all four leagues. A superb feat! He first rode at the High Beech and Rye House training schools in 1949. Allan rode in the second halves at Poole, before signing for the club and making his debut on 31 May 1950. He helped Poole finish runners-up in the Third Division 1951 Third Division Champions and the Festival of Britain Shield winners. 1952 Second Division Champions 1953 Second Division runners up. 1954 Second Division runners up 1955 Second Division Champions 1955 Allan was the first winner of the Johnny Thomson Memorial Trophy He retired from British speedway at the end of 1956, and moved to Canada at the beginning of 1957. In 1959 Allan was ranked Number One in Canadian speedway! Returned to England in 1960 to ride for Poole in the Provincial League. He was appointed club captain and helped the club to finish league runners - up. Allan starred in a television commercial that was shown nationwide in 1960 - 1961 for Players Weights cigarettes. It was in many of the national and local newspapers, and it also included a lady named Valerie, who was a fashion model for one of the big stores in Bournemouth. Allan and Valerie were married in 1955 and at the beginning of 1957 they emigrated to Canada He was also part of the team crowned 1961 Provincial League Champions. He was due to lead the Pirates again in 1962, but seriously injured his back while working for a local steel erecting company during the winter month and never rode again. Allan was a member of the Poole team that made a seven match tour of Sweden in 1953. and again in 1995 he was a member of the Poole team that made an eight match tour of Denmark and Sweden. During this time in the UK at Poole, he completed a respectable point compilation of 1416.5, 25th in all-time points standings!

Unfortunately it costs money.......doubt riders will do it for free.

Some great stuff in those clips...memories...aaahhh! I met Peter Craven, along with my parents as a young lad (about 10 or 11) in the Norwich Club House......what a hero he was of mine. I remember taking his picture with my Brownie Box camera (still have the photo somewhere) .....and he sat next to me while talking to my parents.....he never ignored me, asked me questions...what one's, I have no idea but those moments live with me to this day. I had seen him ride many times, mainly at New Cross, where he was almost invincible and then at Wimbledon......saw him ride a couple of times at the old Hyde Road and that was a sight to behold........Happy Days! Devastated when he was killed, very sad day for the sport.

Its so long since a real test match has taken place I'm not surprised you are confused.....When someone says first official test match it means "of that year"! For example, when test matches used to be every year (usually five of them) each year had a first official test match.......and a second, third, fourth and fifth official.

All those four number 7/8 rode in that meeting but I guess they were not part of the "team".....Hmmmm I know, probably being picky but to me they are part of the team and in some cases have won and lost test matches over the years.

Probably not younger......yes I realize there are six riders racing but there are two reserves and I guess they are not part of the team , the meeting you cite Kevin Smith and Sean Wilmot were the reserves but in this particular meeting they didn't ride, every other meeting the reserve (s) were used and for the USA series of the same year the reserves were top class reserves and used! .....Most, if not all of those programmes in the UK section on the International speedway website are from my own personal collection......shame the site is no longer active.

Not sure they have ever been 6 rider teams....7, 8 and even 10 rider teams in the early years but cannot recall a single one in the UK with 6. That is of course making a "Wild" assumption that this would be a real 18 heat International.....but that really is a wild assumption, probably 15.

Only the top four go through......where the other four come from, who knows!

When is Issue 41 going to made available on the retro speedway website so that I can buy a copy?

Too bad DeWayne Keeter just misses out (1969).....

Thought they had done something right for a change then immediately change their minds and throw it down the toilet!!!