Laurie Etheridge V Tom/joe Owen - Silver Helmet Match Races

[PElford 7]

Can anyone please help with some information about the above match races which took place in 1975 and 1976?

 

Me and a friend were remeniscing about the good old days when we used to watch the Crayford Kestrels between 1975 and 1979. For me, the highlights of each season were the visits of Eastbourne, Newcastle, Rye House, Canterbury, the Kentish Times Trophy and, of course, any Silver Hemet match races that we were fortunate enough to get.

 

I can remember some of the details about the silver helmet races that Laurie Etheridge had with the Owen brothers.

 

In 1975 (July?), I think Tom Owen challenged Laurie Etheridge and won 2-0, 0-2 & 2-0.

 

In 1976 (April?), I think Joe Owen challenged Laurie Etheridge and won 0-2, 2-0 & 2-0.

 

Does anyone have the programmes or relevant Speedway Star/Mail magazines which will provide more details about each of the races? It would be interesting to know the dates, the matches which the races preceeded, venues and heat times etc. I have an incline that whilst Laurie Etheridge may have lost to Joe Owen, he did have the satisfaction of winning 2-0 up at Newcastle, but my memory may be playing tricks with me.

 

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help with this, or indeed provide their own recollections of any of the these races.

 

Paul Elford

[steve19620 26]

Hi there.

 

Heres the information you need:

 

Tom Owen V Laurie Etheridge

 

First Leg (Newcastle) 14 July 1975 - Followed by Newcastle V Stoke (NNL)

Ht 1:Owen 70.6 Ht 2: Owen 70.0

 

Second Leg (Crayford) 15 July 1975 - Followed by Kentish Trophy (Individual) won by Tom Owen !

Ht 1: Etheridge 65.8 Ht 2: Etheridge 65.2

 

Deciding Leg (Boston) 20 July 1975 - Followed by Boston V Birmingham (NNL)

Ht 1: Owen 65.0 Ht 2: Owen 65.2

 

Joe Owen V Laurie Etheridge

 

First Leg (Newcastle) 5 April 1976 - Followed by Newcastle V Oxford (NNL)

Ht 1:Etheridge 68.4 (Track Record) Ht 2:Etheridge, Owen (fell) 70.4

 

Second Leg (Crayford) 27 April 1976 - Followed by Crayford v Newcastle (NNL)

Ht 1: Owen 59.4 Ht 2: Owen 59.2

 

Deciding Leg (Workington) 30 April 1976 - Followed by Workington V Crayford (NNL)

Ht 1: Owen Ht 2: Owen (times not published in the Speedway Star)

 

Steve

Edited December 29, 2011 by steve19620

[PElford 7]

Hi Steve

 

Many thanks for the very quick and helpful reply.

 

I can now remember how disappointed we were on the 27th April 1976 when Joe Owen won both legs at London Road. We thought with a two nil lead from the away leg that Laurie Etheridge would win the Silver Helmet and that we would see him defend it the following month. Did Crayford win the match against Newcastle 40-38 which I think was one of the few defeats that Newcastle had that year?

 

If you have the time and information available, could you also provide similar details for the Kentish Times Trophy meetings in 1975, 1976 and 1977, all of which were won by Tom Owen?

 

Paul

[steve19620 26]

Yes you are correct, Crayford did win the match v Newcastle 40-38. If I am correct Ellesmere Port and Mildenhall were the only other teams that managed to beat the Diamonds in a league fixture in 1976.

 

I do have the details for the Kentish Times Trophy - I will post these on the forum soon.

 

Regards

 

Steve

[Parsloes 1928 nearly 495]

1975 Kentish Times Trophy

Kentish Times Trophy

1^st. Tom Owen (Newcastle) 14; 2^nd. Laurie Etheridge (Crayford) 111/2 ; 3^rd. Kelvin Mullarkey (Rye House) 11; Alan Sage (Crayford) 11; Les Rumsey (Canterbury) 11; Alan Grahame (Birmingham) 10; Barney Kennett (Canterbury) 9; Brian Foote (Rye House) 81/2;Tony Childs (Scunthorpe) 7; Alan Johns (Crayford) 5; Pete Wigley (Crayford) 5; Brian Clark (Peterborough) 4; George Barclay (Crayford) 4; Dave Gagen (Boston) 3; Tiger Beech 3; Bill Archer (Crayford) 2; Paul Gachet (Eastbourne) 0; Neil Middleditch (Eastbourne) 0

 

1976 KTT

1^st. Tom Owen (Newcastle) 15[M]; 2^nd. Ted Hubbard (Rye House) 14; 3^rd. Hugh Saunders (Rye House) 11; 4^th. Alan Sage (Crayford) 11; 5^th. Kelvin Mullarkey (Rye House) 11; 6^th. Steve Weatherley (Eastbourne) 9; 7^th. Tony Featherstone (Peterborough) 8; 8^th. Laurie Etheridge (Crayford) 6; 9^th.= Pete Wigley (Crayford) 6; 9^th.= Alan Johns (Crayford) 6; 11^th. Mike Broadbank (Crayford) 6; 12^th. Bob Coles (Mildenhall) 5; 13^th. Les Collins (Stoke) 5; 14^th. Steve Koppe (Canterbury) 4; 15^th. Pete Jarman (Eastbourne) 2; 16^th. Les Rumsey (Canterbury) 1; 17^th. John Hooper (Crayford) 0

Edited December 30, 2011 by Parsloes 1928 nearly

[Parsloes 1928 nearly 495]

1977 KTT

1^st. Tom Owen (Newcastle) 15[M]; 2^nd. Colin Richardson (Eastbourne) 13; 3^rd. Martin Yeates (Oxford) 12; 4^th. Alan Sage (Crayford) 12; 5^th. Rob Hollingworth (Boston) 12; 6^th. Laurie Etheridge (Crayford) 9; 7^th. Kelvin Mullarkey (Rye House) 8; 8^th. Steve Koppe (Canterbury) 7; 9^th. Barney Kennett (Canterbury) 5; 10^th.= Alan Johns (Crayford) 5; 10^th.= Roger Abel (Eastbourne) 5; 12^th, Richard Davey (Crayford) 4; 13^th.= Vic Harding (Crayford) 3; 13^th.= Colin Gooddy (Crayford) 3; 13^th.= Mike Bessent (Crayford) 3; 16^th.= Bob Garrad (Rye House) 2; 16^th.= Ted Hunbbard (Rye House) 2; 18^th. Garry May (Crayford) 0

 

By the way can't explain why each time I'm posting these they're coming out in a smaller font!!!!

 

1978 KTT

1^st. Tom Owen (Newcastle) 14; 2^nd. Eric Dugard (Eastbourne) 12; 3^rd. Steve Koppe (Canterbury) 11; 4^th. Dave Gooderham (Peterborough) 10; 5^th. Alan Sage (Crayford) 9; 6^th. Kelvin Mullarkey (Crayford) 9; 7^th. Melvyn Taylor (Mildenhall) 9; 8^th. Alan Johns (Crayford) 8; 9^th. Les Rumsey (Canterbury) 7; 10^th. Laurie Etheridge (Crayford) 7; 11^th. Ted Hubbard (Rye House) 6; 12^th. Bob Coles (Mildenhall) 6; 13^th. Pete Wigley (Crayford) 5; 14^th= Ian Clark (Peterborough) 3; 14^th.= Tony Featherstone (Crayford) 3; 16^th. Richard Davey (Crayford) 1

[PElford 7]

Many thanks Parsloes 1928 for providing the individual scores for those KTT meeting. They were all great nights!

 

Seeing the scores again for 1977, reminds me that going into the final heat, there was an overwhelming desire from everybody in the stadium for Tom Owen to make it a hat-trick of wins. Martin Yeates, was the one rider who had other ideas, but he was unable to make a good gate and struggled to get through the traffic and was unable to get to Tom Owen.

 

Paul

[Parsloes 1928 nearly 495]

Many thanks Parsloes 1928 for providing the individual scores for those KTT meeting. They were all great nights!

 

Seeing the scores again for 1977, reminds me that going into the final heat, there was an overwhelming desire from everybody in the stadium for Tom Owen to make it a hat-trick of wins. Martin Yeates, was the one rider who had other ideas, but he was unable to make a good gate and struggled to get through the traffic and was unable to get to Tom Owen.

 

Paul

 

Yes by then Tom Owen was really popular as a visiting rider to London Rd.

More than can be said for the rider third in '75... Mr. Mullarkey!!!!

 

Derek

[PElford 7]

Yes, Derek I can remember that Kelvin Mullarkey was not the most popular visiting rider, but he was very effective round our small track probably because it was similar in size to the one he was used to at Hoddesdon. I seem to recall that some of the difficulty that Crayford had in those days in things like the Four Team Tournament was the fact that Rye House and Eastbourne riders went well round London Road because they were used to small tracks. I suppose that means that our riders should have performed equally well around Rye House and Arlingnton.

 

One of the truely great nights that I can remember was that match against Newcastle in April 1976 when we squeaked home 40-38. I don't suppose that you could post the individual scores and heat details at some point if you have them?

 

Many thanks

 

Paul

[Parsloes 1928 nearly 495]

Sorry Paul - I think I must've been away for Easter or something coz I missed that match..

We did then take on the Diamonds in a Challenge at London Rd. in July and have the details of that. Also a thriller - ending in a draw.

 

Crayford 39 (Laurie Etheridge 10; Gary Spencer 2; Alan Sage 8; Mike Broadbank 5+2; Alan Johns 7+1; 3; Dave Shepherd 4+1; Colin Archer 3+1)

Newcastle 39 (Phil Michelides 9+2; Joe Owen 17; Robbie Blackadder 8+3; Andy Cusworth 3+1; Martin Cusworth 2; Greg Clarke 0) (Challenge)

 

No Tom I notice - but a great performance from Joey... He was my favourite non-Kestrel... What a talent...

[PElford 7]

Thanks for reminding me about the drawn challenge match Derek.Didn't they use rider replacement for Tom Owen hence his brother's huge score. I assume he won 5 of his 6 races with only Laurie Etheridge or Alan Sage beating him?

 

My favourite non-Kestrel was Colin Richardson. I remember travelling on the official coach which the club ran in 1975, 1976 and 1977 to the National League Riders Championship at Wimbledon. I was very lucky to see three great riders in Laurie Etheridge, Joe Owen and Colin Richardson win the title. In 1977, I recall that there was a huge cheer when Richardson's winning time was announced for his first heat. I can't remember if it was a track record but it certainly sparked the crowd into life. Of course, he also rode for Wimbledon which must of been a help.

[Parsloes 1928 nearly 495]

In 1977, I recall that there was a huge cheer when Richardson's winning time was announced for his first heat. I can't remember if it was a track record but it certainly sparked the crowd into life. Of course, he also rode for Wimbledon which must of been a help.

 

Interesting - I don't know what Richardson's time was but though I guess must've been a good one, certainly didn't beat the Plough Lane track record.

That was at that time held by the rider who remains the greatest I've ever seen, Peter Collins who'd set a mark of 58.5 on 24^th. June 1976 and it stood until Scott Autrey broke it in April 1978 with a time of 58.2. Autrey's record stood then for almost four years!

 

The Wimbledon T/R in those days wasn't beaten often at all. The record PC had broken had been shared by two men before that. Tiger Louis who set a time of 59.6 in the very first meeting I'd been to at Plough Lane, the 1974 Internationale and equalled towards the end of the following season by a man with considerable Crayford and Kentish Speedway connections: only Thommo himself!!!

[PElford 7]

You mentioning Peter Collins has reminded me of another story from the mid 70s. Didn't we play Belle Vue in an inter-league challenge match at London Road?

 

A friend of mine, who used to go to the occassional meeting, was walking along Crayford Way, when a car with a speedway bike on the trailer pulled up alongside him and asked the way to the stadium. My mate didn't recognise who the rider was and said that he would give him directions if he agreed to give him a lift. When I spoke to my friend in the stadium just by the pits, he pointed out who the visiting rider was and to my amazement it was none other than you're hero Peter Collins.

 

Do you have the scores of this match which I seem to recall that we eventually lost by a narrow margin?. I seem to remember that at least one of Peter Collins' brothers (Les?) also rode for Belle Vue. Also, was Peter Collins World Champion at the time he visited London Road?

[PElford 7]

Interesting - I don't know what Richardson's time was but though I guess must've been a good one, certainly didn't beat the Plough Lane track record.

 

Derek, I just read that the time of his first heat victory was 60.0, which presumably was pretty quick for a youngish second division rider.

[stratton 1,491]

Interesting - I don't know what Richardson's time was but though I guess must've been a good one, certainly didn't beat the Plough Lane track record.

That was at that time held by the rider who remains the greatest I've ever seen, Peter Collins who'd set a mark of 58.5 on 24^th. June 1976 and it stood until Scott Autrey broke it in April 1978 with a time of 58.2. Autrey's record stood then for almost four years!

 

The Wimbledon T/R in those days wasn't beaten often at all. The record PC had broken had been shared by two men before that. Tiger Louis who set a time of 59.6 in the very first meeting I'd been to at Plough Lane, the 1974 Internationale and equalled towards the end of the following season by a man with considerable Crayford and Kentish Speedway connections: only Thommo himself!!!

I went to the 1979 Internationale? when Michael Lee wiped the floor with P.C and co, i loved Wimbledon,even though i didnt really like little tracks.