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iris123

Time Travel

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If there was an opportunity to travel back in time,which meeting would you love to see?

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Not a particular meeting, but would love to travel back to the 30's and watch a match at Perry Barr then go over to Hall Green and watch another Birmingham team race.

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High Beech February 1928!

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All good suggestions

 

Personally not sure.I was looking at maybe a South London derby...Crystal Palace v Stamford Bridge.Maybe Wimbledon against one of those,but when I looked at meetings both Ray Tauser and Billy Lamont were missing due to injury for instance.But I now think I should look at the national Trophy maybe as there were more heats.But also possibly an England v Australia test.Still searching or my meeting,that is why I was interested in others thoughts.But Deano's idea of the chance of 2 meetings in 1 day is a good one

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Any of the many meetings held before Maitland December 1923, so I could video it and bring back a programme!

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I'd like to go back to see the 1955 World Final that Peter Craven won.

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Strangely this is something I've actually thought about!

 

My first choices would be 17 September 1939 to see the meeting that took place at Winkfield, and a trip to California (Berkshire).

 

I'd like to visit some of the grand old tracks of the glory days - Norwich, New Cross, Southampton etc. - and maybe some of the more obscure venues, in particular Leicester Super.

 

Then there are riders I would like to see Vic Duggan, Bluey Wilkinson, Igor Plechanov. I think Ivan Mauger riding in the Southern Area League in 1957 would have been interesting.

 

And of course some particularly special meetings such as the 1964 GB v USSR test at Wembley, 1956 England v Sweden at Wimbledon or the 1951 World Final.

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Hyde Rd Belle Vue v Reading,Collins v Michanek and England v Sweden at Sheffield with Collins, E.Boocock,Michanek,TJansson in the last race.

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I'd like to see the first meeting at Hackney in 1932, and also the 1954 world final with Craven, Fundin and Briggs all making their debuts.

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I think if time travel was possible... where would I get the old money from to buy my entrance tickets? :)

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Deano,I wouldn't worry about that- I would time travel into the frigging stadium-not outside it and try and get in!!

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Strangely this is something I've actually thought about!

 

My first choices would be 17 September 1939 to see the meeting that took place at Winkfield, and a trip to California (Berkshire).

 

 

 

Morning Arnie..

 

Winkfield as in Winkfield Row ?

 

I'm from Wokingham and never knew there was anything over in Winkfield.

 

I personally would like to be back at a couple of meetings -

 

Reading - on any race night, no matter how crappy the opposition.

 

Poole - v Cradley, i think was maybe late 90s or 91 - Jason Crump was pootling around in the second half as a junior and was terrible. I was with my late Dad and we had a cracking night.

 

New Cross in the late 40s would have been nice aswell. Screw the racing, finding Gustix and giving him a good hiding would have been a nice night out.

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79 world team cup final

Aces v reading 1973

Reading v aces 1982 bl

Any of bright and Moores world final wins

Hyde Rd in the years pre and post WWII.

Wembley 81

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Morning Arnie..

 

Winkfield as in Winkfield Row ?

 

I'm from Wokingham and never knew there was anything over in Winkfield.

 

I personally would like to be back at a couple of meetings -

 

Reading - on any race night, no matter how crappy the opposition.

 

Poole - v Cradley, i think was maybe late 90s or 91 - Jason Crump was pootling around in the second half as a junior and was terrible. I was with my late Dad and we had a cracking night.

 

New Cross in the late 40s would have been nice aswell. Screw the racing, finding Gustix and giving him a good hiding would have been a nice night out.

Yes, Winkfield Row!

 

Here's what I wrote about it in my book:

 

The village of Winkfield lies three miles north-east of Bracknell, close to Ascot racecourse and Legoland. It seems like one of the last places that one might find speedway. The Wokingham Times headline “Speedway Racing at Winkfield – New Track Opened” challenges that perception. The report of a meeting on 17 September 1939 is contained in the following week's paper.

A reference to the 'newly formed Winkfield Motor Club' in the August 25 edition of the Wokingham Times indicates that plans were under way to stage an event before the war broke out. The meeting featured many of the California regulars – Sid Lewington, Billy Newell, George Bason, Jack Adams and Herbert Deacon all appeared. With his National League experience it is no surprise to find that Jim Boyd dominated the meeting by winning six races.

A further meeting planned for a fortnight later failed to materialise. A clearly annoyed reporter wrote in the Wokingham Times (6 October 1939) under the headline: 'Speedway Racing at Winkfield – A Protest at its Cancellation'. He described his experience:

... on arriving at the Winkfield track on Sunday there were no officials there at all and only one rider. However there were quite 100 people there at 2.30 p.m. including dozens of cars and other conveyances ...”

The big question though is – was it really speedway? In the 1930s and 1940s a number of grasstrack events were promoted as speedways. Homes of British Speedway (Tempus), the excellent reference work by Robert Bamford and John Jarvis lists over a hundred of these.

The meeting report identifies the location of the Winkfield track as Crouch Lane, a road dominated by farms and farm buildings. The track was described as of similar length to California (310 yards at the time) but with straights sloping uphill and downhill. It seems almost certain that this was essentially a grasstrack circuit set up in a field.

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