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steve roberts

Arnold Haley

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On 10/27/2020 at 11:25 AM, jsteve1999 said:

I used to go to Sheffield speedway and watched Arnie entertain he was a great rider it was sad to hear of his death and after being in such a dangerous sport

I was very lucky as some years ago I bought an old grass track bike, did it up and the engine got a new big end fitted,on the con rod was A Haley  in permanent

Marker on the crank case was stamped the initials DH so if any body has any info I would be grateful I would also be pleased to give anybody any info I can .

Regards 

Steve Exley

 

 

 

 

DH could be Derek Hobson who was a respected Sheffield based engine tuner in Arnie's day. 

Edited by tigerowl

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I remember when he joined Belle Vue at the very end of his career when he came in as a reserve. I thought that he could be a really potent weapon there but sadly time had caught up with him and he was a shadow of his former self. A great rider at Sheffield though.

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1 hour ago, Garry1603 said:

I remember when he joined Belle Vue at the very end of his career when he came in as a reserve. I thought that he could be a really potent weapon there but sadly time had caught up with him and he was a shadow of his former self. A great rider at Sheffield though.

       

That was 1979.

But, remember, Arnie arrived at Hyde Road with a back catalogue of recent injuries, his demise hastened by the fact he had completed just one full season - 1977 - of the last three. In 1976 he missed the entire season barring one league match with a broken arm. In 1978 a broken thigh, again after one league match, restricted him to the sidelines. He was an eight-point rider in 1975 before the setbacks.

Arriving at Belle Vue in 1979, aged 36, considered old for a rider back then, it was a period of change in Belle Vue’s make-up. With Alan Wilkinson injured the year before, fans tried adjusting as riders arrived from rival clubs as the conveyor belt of training school talent was ending.

Pekka Hautamaki came from Cradley and an unknown, Emil Sova, from Czechoslovakia. The side was terrible early on, especially to fans brought up on a diet of 1970s success, and for much of the season tried desperately to get out of the bottom three. Changes had to come. Haley lost his place when the club brought in Dave Allen in August.

Manager Eric Boocock liked Haley and thrilled when he got him from Owlerton, revealing he looked fitter than he had ever done. But in hindsight, the signing didn’t prove good, and Haley struggled to cope, especially away. He totalled a meagre paid six in 12 league matches on the road - three of which came at old track Sheffield. He failed to open his account in nine of a dozen matches on his travels.

Perhaps his saviour was his Hyde Road form, which may have bought him more time in the side. He scored a reserve league maximum in his penultimate match for Aces in August 1979, before adapting better to the National League when loaned to struggling Workington, where he completed the year.

Four points (two at Belle Vue) from nine early 1981 matches in Cradley colours signalled the end of Arnie’s racing days. It was clear his dabbling with top league competition was behind him and he joined Oxford, then in the National League, in May, but rode only one match for them before calling time on his career.

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19 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

       

That was 1979.

But, remember, Arnie arrived at Hyde Road with a back catalogue of recent injuries, his demise hastened by the fact he had completed just one full season - 1977 - of the last three. In 1976 he missed the entire season barring one league match with a broken arm. In 1978 a broken thigh, again after one league match, restricted him to the sidelines. He was an eight-point rider in 1975 before the setbacks.

Arriving at Belle Vue in 1979, aged 36, considered old for a rider back then, it was a period of change in Belle Vue’s make-up. With Alan Wilkinson injured the year before, fans tried adjusting as riders arrived from rival clubs as the conveyor belt of training school talent was ending.

Pekka Hautamaki came from Cradley and an unknown, Emil Sova, from Czechoslovakia. The side was terrible early on, especially to fans brought up on a diet of 1970s success, and for much of the season tried desperately to get out of the bottom three. Changes had to come. Haley lost his place when the club brought in Dave Allen in August.

Manager Eric Boocock liked Haley and thrilled when he got him from Owlerton, revealing he looked fitter than he had ever done. But in hindsight, the signing didn’t prove good, and Haley struggled to cope, especially away. He totalled a meagre paid six in 12 league matches on the road - three of which came at old track Sheffield. He failed to open his account in nine of a dozen matches on his travels.

Perhaps his saviour was his Hyde Road form, which may have bought him more time in the side. He scored a reserve league maximum in his penultimate match for Aces in August 1979, before adapting better to the National League when loaned to struggling Workington, where he completed the year.

Four points (two at Belle Vue) from nine early 1981 matches in Cradley colours signalled the end of Arnie’s racing days. It was clear his dabbling with top league competition was behind him and he joined Oxford, then in the National League, in May, but rode only one match for them before calling time on his career.

Yes, all good points.

1979 and 1980 were pretty unsettled years for the Aces

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Saw him riding for Cradley at the start of 1981. It was sad to see him struggling so much, Peter Adams ran out of patience and replaced him with John McNeill. 

Prefer to remember the quality rider he was in his pomp round Owlerton.

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17 minutes ago, salty said:

Saw him riding for Cradley at the start of 1981. It was sad to see him struggling so much, Peter Adams ran out of patience and replaced him with John McNeill. 

Prefer to remember the quality rider he was in his pomp round Owlerton.

I seem to recall that he and Bruce Penhall didn't exactly hit it off?

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On 11/10/2020 at 12:00 PM, moxey63 said:

That was 1979.

But, remember, Arnie arrived at Hyde Road with a back catalogue of recent injuries, his demise hastened by the fact he had completed just one full season - 1977 - of the last three......

That's a clear and detailed analysis of Arnie's final years in the sport. Thank you.

Are you able to give us a similar summary of his years at the top?

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2 hours ago, False dawn said:

That's a clear and detailed analysis of Arnie's final years in the sport. Thank you.

Are you able to give us a similar summary of his years at the top?

Thank you for the praise, False Dawn.

Of course I could write a similar piece on Arnie's time at the top, but I penned this on his final years in reply to a post by Garry1603 above it.

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Hi tigerowl 

Got your info thank you very much I have been trying to trace Derek H as you said , I got as far as Penistone and he seems to have been magic with mags 

The info I got was from the forum in 2003 so Derek may have passed away  I will let you know if I find any more info and thank you very much for your

Help 

Kind regards

Steve Exley

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