BOBBATH

Thinking of the Jolly Rogers and Bob Roger -got me thinking of the achievement of Swindon 1957-a second division track which when the Leagues amalgamated finished top of the combined NL-even beating out Wimbledon. Anybody in forumland recall that team (gustix maybe)and seeing them ride that season. It was quite an accomplishment. I recognise that we are talking 63 years agobut I'm only 73 and would loved to have seen them as an 11 year old.!!!

I think Arthur died at a relatively young age.

Wow, 29 was very young for Brian Brett to retire-was that about the same age as Brian Crutcher quit or was he even younger??

Hi guys was interested in Norbold's post- particularly poor old Brian Brett having an average of 1.4. When I arrived on the scene in 1964 Brian Brett was an NL star- I think he led the qualifiers to the British Final that year- was regarded as a cert to make the World Final, and indeed had a chance of being British Champ. However not to be-there is a famous photo of him (was it in Speedway Post-I am thinking here of a glossy monthly publication associated with Speedway Star I think) flat on his ass after falling in his first ride. The blurb said he could still have qualified but obviously he was un-nerved. I was glad to see he rode with distinction in the 1965 World Final ( i woz there as Max Boyce would say). Any memories of Brian-maybe retired too early , died quite young, could have been a contender (as per Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront'). Saw him ride for Newcastle in 65 and then (I think) CH in 1966-could be wrong though. Comments welcome.

Lots of interesting stuff here mates, but hang on for a minute-getting back to Atomic Tommy what do you reckon was the reason for his precipitous decline after Glasgow. He was like a shining comet that fell to earth.

Sorry to see Alan Wilkinson passed away recently-indeed an honourable entry into the "hard riders" thresd

Sorry BL65- my mistake-misread the thread, you are quite right.

And don't lets forget Teo Teodorowicz

Interesting comments BL65, George was the first real top star of the Prov. League that I saw, for Monarchs when they visited Newport in 1964-very impressive. Wondered if he could ever make a World Final, but never seem to do well in big qualifying memories e.g. the 1966 European Final at Wembley-nerves maybe or motivation or just not good enough at big occasions. However being involved in the fatal Peter Craven crash didn't seem to affect his later riding as it might have for some other riders.

This is exactly why I love this forum-so much interesting stuff and you get to find out so many interesting things-thanks for starting this thread iris 123. BTW how did you come up with that moniker-also how would you folks rank the following in order- McKinlay, Miller, , Bainbridge. While different eras would anyone like to compare George Hunter to Tommy.

Sorry, just got to the link BL65 posted and that answered some of my questions-should have looked there first. I did see he died at the very young age of 51 -that's awful young even for that era.

I am interested in Tommy also- I got the impression he may have flamed out a bit too soon, wasn't he a heavy drinker? Toured Oz a few times, not sure if he came close to a World Final spot (can anyone tell me anything about how close he ever came to qualifying?) How would speedway historians compare Tommy to say Junior Bainbridge another White City rider. Think Junior kept going longer. Also didn't Tommy die at a youngish age?

Was interested to read your post chunky about Ernie Lessiter and Swindon-anybody know when Ernie retired. I wonder if he had continued to 1960 he could have graced the Prov. League as his old "oppo" Alby Golden later did.

Most interesting chunky, thanks for the post. I had a lot of respect for Streety -brought far more to a team than simply his riding skills. Reckon he continued to do so throughout his long career both as a rider and in coaching and management..

Glad we are back talking about speedway-all I wanna do here is learn about Old Time Speedway (or as I am beginning to think VERY old Time Speedway). Re the post mentioning Ken McKinlay in the 1956 World Final- I have the Maurice Jones book"World Speedway Final -A History from 1929" Great book easy to read and ended with the World Final of 1978( it was published in 1979). So I am aware of Ken McKinlay's outstanding performance in the 1956 WF. In 1979 I had moved to Calgary in my so-called oil industry (boo) career. I used to have to travel to all sorts of places in Saskatchewan- remember being in Kindersley, Sask and reading this book at a local steakhouse ( I dined alone but you are never really alone if you have a book to read)- however I digress. My main point is does anybody in forumland recall this WF and did they think Ken McKinlay was bound to be a World Champion one day . BTW -a tip to those in a restaurant dining alone who are trying to catch the eye of a waiter-just pull out a book start reading it like you don't give a s**t how quick the service is and it looks like you are taking root there- they're over like a shot to take your order. Trust me it works(if you want super fast service pull out a copy of "War and Peace"!!). As an aside is Maurice Jones still with us or has he checked out to the big publishing house in the sky??

See I learned something-I didn't connect the Swindon win with the loss of Ronnie Moore to Wimbledon in 1957

Could it be that John is not well. Perhaps age related??

Blimey!!

How can you be banned from this site that's just about "old time speedway" ,- bad language, political incorrectness posting that you like Ghislane Maxwell or all of the above. Or have I omitted another category??

Somebody said on another thread, haven't heard from gustix for a while made me think, I thought he was bound to post to this thread. He was certainly around then, hope you are well John-none of us are getting any younger in forumland. Miss your posts mate.

More excellent research, thanks BL65 for taking the trouble to compose this detailed list. Greatly appreciated.

At the Berwick meeting the star seemed to be a guy called Danny Bird for I.O.W.-did he end up having a good career. Score was 17-19 when I left but just couldn't get interested in the racing. Sorry for being off topic here!!

What year did the old second halves come to an end-were they abolished all together or was it a slow decline. They were going strong when I left but by my last ever speedway meeting in UK they'd gone. BTW the last ever meeting I saw was at Berwick on 19th October 2002 v I.O.W-Young Shield Semi Final. Not a success- I of course knew none of the riders, weather was cold, was standing up on terraces , my back was aching and left after Heat 7 to drive back to Edinburgh-got too used to comfort I guess. Following day saw Hearts lose 0-6 to Celtic at home, but a comfortable seat and had a pint in the bar with some friendly and good natured Hearts fans!!

Anyone in Forumland see all three , Cyril, Bert and Bob ride. I didn't see any -although starting in 1964 just missed out on Cyril. How would you rank them-maybe Cyril #1 , guess Bob had a bad accident which cut his career short. Would be interested in any memories.

According to the Malcolm Simmons book, he reckons his mum had an affair with Bert and that was one of the reasons his folks split up-don't know whether to believe Simmo though.