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Alan Hunt Question Yarmouth V Cradley 1950

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Real long shot but has anyone any idea why Cradley's number 1, Alan Hunt, rode in the number 7 reserve berth for the Southern Shield match against, and at, Yarmouth on the 6th May 1950 ?

 

Hunt was averaging around 10.5 (including BP's and all competitions) at the time and there is no way I can see why he would be at reserve !!

 

The riding number is confirmed on both the Cradley and the Yarmouth files on the researcher website.

 

BTW I thought that at this time any reserve scoring more than 50% of the points possible had to move out of reserve.

 

Thanks

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Someone may give you the definitive answer, but the first thing that comes to mind is that at this time he was in dispute with management for refusing to let him move to Brum.
He had missed some matches, and was riding under protest.
Either he was limiting his rides, or mgt were penalising him putting him there.

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Real long shot but has anyone any idea why Cradley's number 1, Alan Hunt, rode in the number 7 reserve berth for the Southern Shield match against, and at, Yarmouth on the 6th May 1950 ?

 

Hunt was averaging around 10.5 (including BP's and all competitions) at the time and there is no way I can see why he would be at reserve !!

 

The riding number is confirmed on both the Cradley and the Yarmouth files on the researcher website.

 

BTW I thought that at this time any reserve scoring more than 50% of the points possible had to move out of reserve.

 

Thanks

The meeting referred to was on 6th June, not May. In the Cradley Heath programme on 29th May there were comments on Hunt's 'resignation' with a pending move to ride in the first division. On 5th June he returned to the side, replacing Harry Bastable at number 4 in the programme, with Harry dropping to reserve to replace Jim Pain.

 

In the Yarmouth programme for the meeting on 6th June it was stated 'as Alan Hunt, who will be riding in Div 1 soon, is unlikely to ride.....' However, he did ride, replacing programmed reserve Geoff Godwin as first reserve. In the Cradley Heath programme for the meeting on 12th June it was explained that Les Marshall, the Birmingham promoter, was welcomed back to the promotion and that supporters should not worry that this was part of a move to strengthen the Brummies by taking away Cradley riders. Indeed, it was explained that Marshall was the man responsible for the return to the side of Alan Hunt the previous week. Hunt of course then moved to Birmingham for the 1951 season. The move that never happened in 1950 was the reported 'transfer' of Alan Hunt to Harringay for £2,500 before Les Marshall's intervention and the promise of a future berth at Birmingham.

 

In the two meetings referred to when Hunt came back in to the team he directly replaced programmed riders, correctly going in to the team and Bastable dropping down to reserve in the first, but inexplicably being allowed to ride in the reserve position at Yarmouth, no reason being published that I have seen.

Edited by BL65

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Thanks BL65 (apols for the wrong month no idea why I wrote May !)

 

So it looks like an unexplained mystery why he rode at reserve for the one meeting (scoring 4-12). I suspect that it didn't make any real difference as had he been in the 1-6 he would still have scored 4-12, reserves at the time only being able to take a max of 4 rides in 14 heat matches.

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Thanks BL65 (apols for the wrong month no idea why I wrote May !)

 

So it looks like an unexplained mystery why he rode at reserve for the one meeting (scoring 4-12). I suspect that it didn't make any real difference as had he been in the 1-6 he would still have scored 4-12, reserves at the time only being able to take a max of 4 rides in 14 heat matches.

Looking further at this, the Yarmouth programme notes by Ernie Wedon, the Yarmouth manager, on 13th June include the following:

 

"Cradley owe the winning of the Kemsley (Southern) Shield to Alan Hunt, and while we were all pleased to see the Cradley 'Flyer' in action, we should have preferred to have seen him start his rides as a full team member and not as a reserve. To bring their 'Star' in as reserve was against the rules, as he had scored more than 50 per cent. of possible points in his last six matches. A report has been sent to the Control Board and there may be repercussions."

 

The result stood, however.

Edited by BL65

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Some further background to this one. The Speedway World 14th June 1950 refers to the Yarmouth protest over the rules being broken by Alan Hunt taking a reserve position in the meeting. The report states that Cradley manager, Dick Wise, was not present when Hunt entered the side, owing to car trouble on the way from Cradley.

 

Presumably, if the team manager had been present then he would have known the rules and would have changed the riding order to accommodate Hunt in the team.

 

Afterwards Wise remarked that Hunt had only taken what probably seemed a wise course, as he had been injured the previous night. This suggests that Hunt himself decided to ride at reserve, in the absence of direction from the team manager. I suppose if Dick had been present then it could be said that Hunt would have taken a 'Wise' course and ridden in the team instead!

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At first sight it is difficult to work out whether Cradley gained an advantage for having Hunt at reserve when he shouldn't have been there. After all his form was such that 4-12 was not unreasonable.

 

However, in his next away match, on the 10th June a Edinburgh, he rode at number 2 (a not unusual riding position for him at this time). At Yarmouth had he ridden at number 2 he would have met the opposition numbers 1&2, 5&6, 3&4 and 2&6 in his heats. He actually rode against the Yarmouth 4&7, 3&8, 5&6 and 7&8 (note : these are the actual riding positions in his heats not the programmed ones). As he rode half his races against the opposite reserves, when he should have met none of them at number 2, then I would say that he definitely gained an advantage (and bearing in mind Exeter losing, possibly, the Southern League title to Rayleigh in 1953 on a similar issue - someone riding at reserve that shouldn't have which led to the annullment of the match [i hope I have remembered this correctly]). It is sad that we will probaby never know why the match was either not annulled or ordered re-run.

 

Many thanks BL65 for the added info.

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At first sight it is difficult to work out whether Cradley gained an advantage for having Hunt at reserve when he shouldn't have been there. After all his form was such that 4-12 was not unreasonable.

 

However, in his next away match, on the 10th June a Edinburgh, he rode at number 2 (a not unusual riding position for him at this time). At Yarmouth had he ridden at number 2 he would have met the opposition numbers 1&2, 5&6, 3&4 and 2&6 in his heats. He actually rode against the Yarmouth 4&7, 3&8, 5&6 and 7&8 (note : these are the actual riding positions in his heats not the programmed ones). As he rode half his races against the opposite reserves, when he should have met none of them at number 2, then I would say that he definitely gained an advantage (and bearing in mind Exeter losing, possibly, the Southern League title to Rayleigh in 1953 on a similar issue - someone riding at reserve that shouldn't have which led to the annullment of the match [i hope I have remembered this correctly]). It is sad that we will probaby never know why the match was either not annulled or ordered re-run.

 

Many thanks BL65 for the added info.

Cradley needed to score 30.5 at Yarmouth to pip Coventry for top spot and actually scored 39. If Hunt had ridden in the team he would have replaced Harry Bastable, as he did in the meeting the previous evening. In fact, in heats 8 and 11 at Yarmouth Hunt did replace Bastable as a reserve substitution. This means that Hunt scored 6 points in his two reserve rides. Yarmouth won the meeting anyway, so deducting Hunt's 6 points would have made no difference to that outcome. Taking Hunt's scores out of the two reserve rides would have turned heat 4 from 3-3 to 5-1 and heat 13 from 1-5 to 3-3. The amended score would have been 49-35 and Cradley would still have secured enough race points to top the table. This may well not have been the actual reasoning at the time, but it does show that the impact was not as great as at first sight.

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Some further information. In response to criticism about the Yarmouth match events in a local sporting newspaper, Dick Wise commented in the Cradley Heath programme on 24th June that the Yarmouth pit marshall should have queried the team alterations when they were handed to him and not half way through the match. He went on to say that although it had been reported in the press that Control Board action will be forthcoming, even to the extent of a match re-run, Cradley Heath had received no communication from the Control Board regarding the matter.

 

The next mention of the matter came in the Cradley Heath programme for the Midland Cup match against Coventry on 7th August, when Les Marshall responded to criticisms by Coventry manager Charles Ochiltree. Marshall stated "With regard to the use of Alan Hunt as a reserve, I would point out that the Control Board was satisfied with the explanation of this incident and that Mr. Ochiltree's comments amount to a criticism of the Board". This implies that Cradley Heath were eventually required to explain the circumstances of Hunt's inclusion at reserve at Yarmouth, with the explanation being accepted and no action taken.

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