Staggered starts 6+ in a race.

[sandman 0]

Great answer Norbold, thanks for the facts....

[Custom House Kid 45]

In the second half at West Ham in the 60s they used to have Handicap races for the junior riders :!:

 

looking at my old progs i found number of races eg

 

Grand six lap elimination handicap 27th sept 1966

 

R Mike Stevenitt scr

B Don Smith 10yds

W Reg Trott 10yds

Y&B Brian leonard 30yds

G&W Molly Simmons 30 Yds

 

Result B Y&B W Time 116.2

[mIcK50 3]

Handicap races have been a staple of Oz speedway since Moses played fullback for the Jews. While it looks a bit dangerous, it is a great way for a beginner to start off his racing with the chance of winning a few races and gaining confidence. It is also a good way for riders to learn how to win races from the back.

 

The handicapping usually worked like this: If you won a handicap race, your handicap was increased by ten yards the next week. If you failed to win your handicap was reduced by ten yards, ( but, not of course, if you failed to win from the scratch mark!) Some of the best riders had some enormous handicaps and to see people like Jim Airey and Gordon Guasco at the Royale and Chum Taylor, Les Sharpe, Dud McKean and Ken MacKinlay at Claremont, blasting their way thru the field was a great sight.

 

When he raced at Rowley Park in Adelaide in the early 60's, Ivan Mauger was on a handicap of 200 yards plus and was at one stage, starting BEHIND the great Jack Young!

 

It's a great way to learn, but when you are a very nervous 'wobbler' trying to find your way around the track and you are suddenly passed by one of the backmarkers at top speed, you get a very scarey reminder of just how fast this speedway game is.

[Guest Old Swinger]

Handicap racing (both solos and sidecars) used to make up at least half of all programs in Australia. At the Sydney Showground they used to race over 3 laps (it was a 1/3 mile track) and other 1/4 mile tracks were usually 4 laps. All classes of riders were in the same race race with novices starting off the "gate" up to about 30 yards behind, with the stars such as Jim Airey, Gordon Guasco, Bob Sharp etc starting up to 130 yards behind scratch. gordon guasco went from riding off 10 yards to 120 yards in a matter of six meetings in the early sixties.

 

Sidecar riders such as Bob Levy, Doug Robson and Bill Bingham would also race off 120-130 yards.

 

The racing was pretty hectic and the backmarkers won more than their share of races (better than 60% when I checked some old programmes). I don't think it was all that dangerous as the quickies from the back usually had a lot of space to pick the line of the slower riders.

[arnieg 3,643]

I think a look at the scores from golden doubles shows the problem with reintroducing handicapping. Simply it is too difficult to pass even when giving away only 15 metres. The few successful golden doubles usually come from heat 8 or 14 and involve a number one against a weak second string and a reserve.

 

Mind you it works in the States and the Olympique is still a good meeting

[kiwi 49]

We always had six in a race in NZ in the 60s and 70s both handicap and gate starts. Dad was off 120yds in those days. In the Sixties we didnt have starting gates just a big Rubber band.