Speedway Shambles

[Grachan 7,314]

Oxford v Cradley in 1975 - another walk out. Cradley walked out in the snow. I think it ended up 58-14 as Oxford went round on their own.

[uk_martin 1,606]

John Davis riding as a guest for Oxford to cover the absent John Davis.

Copycats. Birmingham were allowed to have R/R for Bob Valentine whilst Bob Valentine was also in the team.

Or in recent times, "Plumbingate" and the restaged Belle Vue v Poole meeting which the authorities refused to abandon despite the pouring rain until Poole had enough points for an aggregate win and it got past heat 10.

Edited August 4, 2017 by uk martin

[steve roberts 9,242]

Oxford v Cradley in 1975 - another walk out. Cradley walked out in the snow. I think it ended up 58-14 as Oxford went round on their own.

Remember it well...and John Boulger was christened 'Snowflake' by some of the Cowley faithful!

 

Nope. It was in 1975, I believe. JD signed for Reading and Oxford were granted a guest facility to cover for him. Who better to call on, eh?

Oxford were allocated first Eric Boocock (who retired) and then Ole Olsen (who refused to ride for Oxford...thank goodness) and eventually Dag Lovaas came to Oxford and John Davis went the other way...but, as usual, Oxford rode at Coventry early in the season before the move was made hence the anomaly.

[Grachan 7,314]

Remember it well...and John Boulger was christened 'Snowflake' by some of the Cowley faithful!

 

Oxford were allocated first Eric Boocock (who retired) and then Ole Olsen (who refused to ride for Oxford...thank goodness) and eventually Dag Lovaas came to Oxford and John Davis went the other way...but, as usual, Oxford rode at Coventry early in the season before the move was made hence the anomaly.

I never knew about Eric Boocock. That would have been weird.

 

I always assumed Dag Lovaas had been a replacement for Bob Kilby, but with Lovaas formerly being a Reading rider I guess that makes sense.

[keepturningleft 588]

World Final Wembley 1975 - track not watered properly, so fans decide to do it themselves with a hosepipe, resulting in a swimming pool on turn one which possibly cost Peter Collins the title.

[steve roberts 9,242]

I never knew about Eric Boocock. That would have been weird.

 

I always assumed Dag Lovaas had been a replacement for Bob Kilby, but with Lovaas formerly being a Reading rider I guess that makes sense.

Bob Kilby was a strange one...Long winded saga but Garry Middleton (who Oxford paid a fee for) was swapped for Tony Lomas (Coventry) who was swapped for Bob Kilby (Exeter) so technically Bob was an Oxford asset. However when he re-signed for 'The Budgies' prior to the 1975 season Swindon claimed that he was one of their's having been allocated to Exeter in 1971 and therefore Oxford lost out and never received a penny for him!

 

John Davis wanted away and Dag making it well known that he wanted to ride at Cowley a swap was struck...not sure if any money changed hands.

[Piotr Pyszny 206]

Trailing down to the East Midlands from Teesside to report on a Long Eaton v Middlesbrough match in the (I think) 1995 season. Glorious summer evening, not a cloud in the sky, yet the meeting was called off. When I queried the ref's decision, he took me out on the track. It was like a ploughed field! Too dangerous for push bikes, let alone speedway bikes, was his summation.

 

Similarly frustrating, a few seasons earlier, was watching an hour of tractor racing at Odsal before the referee gave up and called off a Bradford versus Poole match. Crowd in the stadium, not a wheel turned.

 

Almost every meeting Glasgow staged at Derwent Park during their 1987 'season in exile'. I was living in Cumbria at the time, and went to most of the matches. The track - bumpy, rutted and dusty - was a disgrace. Nobody did any work on it between matches. In the end, after one pile-up and/or visitors' complaint too many, Glasgow (or, as they became, Workington Tigers) were kicked out of the league, halfway through the season. One of the worst crashes involved Troy Butler, of Milton Keynes. Left him with a gash in the neck, I recall.

Edited August 4, 2017 by Piotr Pyszny

[cityrebel 2,960]

I went to the last ever workington tigers home meeting in 1987 against Wimbledon. The track was rough to say the least!

[screm 8,050]

Berwick v Belle Vue in what was the last meeting of the season during Berwick`s one and only season in the then British League. Belle Vue refused to turn up to the meeting as they were having their end of season bash the night before. Berwick completed the meeting on their own.

[moxey63 1,785]

I have to admit, I love speedway for its strange happenings. Sort of makes you want to cuddle it!

 

Someone should write a book about them all.

[Sotonian 609]

Almost every meeting Glasgow staged at Derwent Park during their 1987 'season in exile'.

Didn't one of them get abandoned after the track was 'watered' with slurry? I think the bowser had been filled from a nearby river which, unbeknown to them, had been contaminated!

[The White Knight 9,039]

Didn't one of them get abandoned after the track was 'watered' with slurry? I think the bowser had been filled from a nearby river which, unbeknown to them, had been contaminated!

Crikey - I bet that put them in the sh*t. :D

[Piotr Pyszny 206]

Didn't one of them get abandoned after the track was 'watered' with slurry? I think the bowser had been filled from a nearby river which, unbeknown to them, had been contaminated!

 

I was at that meeting. Don't recall it being abandoned. I do remember the riders coming back to the pits after the first heat. They were covered, head to foot, in slurry. Typified the shambolic organisation of that Glasgow-at-Workington season. Hard to believe the Tigers re-emerged at Shawfield, a few months later, with huge crowds and professional presentation. Some of the Derwent Park crowds struggled to reach 350, partly because Glasgow had such a poor team (only Boston, also kicked out of the league, were worse), partly because the track/racing was a joke and partly because Glaswegians didn't want to trek down to Workington while west Cumbrians couldn't see the point of watching somebody else's side.

 

EDIT: I'm going to stick my neck out and say the 'slurry' meeting was on the August Bank Holiday Monday (31st) afternoon against Middlesbrough. It was baking hot. The Bears won 53-23. Just dug out the programme. Promoter Dave Thomson clearly feared the worst when he wrote, in his Tiger Talk programme notes: "I would be surprised if we get through today without one or two hiccups behind the scenes as most of our regular track staff and officials are not with us." Explains the water/slurry fiasco. I seem to remember Glasgow skipper Steve Lawson later described the afternoon as the worst experience of his speedway career.

 

 

Edited August 4, 2017 by Piotr Pyszny

[Gemini 4,894]

 

 

Piotr Pyszny...............Trailing down to the East Midlands from Teesside to report on a Long Eaton v Middlesbrough match in the (I think) 1995 season. Glorious summer evening, not a cloud in the sky, yet the meeting was called off. When I queried the ref's decision, he took me out on the track. It was like a ploughed field! Too dangerous for push bikes, let alone speedway bikes, was his summation.

 

This must have been a different meeting to the one I was thinking of but I'm sure it was Middlesbrough. They refused to ride so Long Eaton's riders scored 5-0's in every race. Also at Long Eaton on a lovely June evening, with Ove Fundin and his wife present, the track had been over watered and the match called off. I can't remember which team was the opposition then but I know I was cheesed off driving over from Leicester for nothing.

[Piotr Pyszny 206]

Another that sticks out in the memory: I was holidaying in south Wales (as you do) in spring 2002, and drove over to Carmarthen to watch the Dragons' opening meeting (versus King's Lynn's juniors) at the Showground. Big crowd on, and the track wasn't fit for racing. It simply wasn't ready. Nobody could get the bikes sideways on the turns. I watched the meeting in the company of a Newport regular, who described it as a travesty of speedway. Can't imagine any first-timer would have seen much point in returning. Did Carmarthen end their chances, there and then, of making a success of staging speedway in south-west Wales?

 

The opening meeting at the South Tees Motorsport Park, Redcar versus Sheffield, in 2006, wasn't much better - for the same reasons. Track unfit for racing. And first impressions count, don't they?

Edited August 5, 2017 by Piotr Pyszny