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Your memories of Americans in British League (1970-90)

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10 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

Sadly took his own life some years ago.

1st September, 2006. Yesterday would have been his 64th birthday...

Very sad.

Steve

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Always thought Eddie Ingells was a good rider who we should have seen more of.

 

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1 hour ago, 847084 said:

Always thought Eddie Ingells was a good rider who we should have seen more of.

 

...seem to recall that he got married on the centre green at B(R)rough Park?

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1 hour ago, 847084 said:

Always thought Eddie Ingells was a good rider who we should have seen more of.

 

Thought he was rubbish for the Aces, probably on a par with Larry Kosta.

If only Bammy had managed to sign Ermolenko instead of Ingels...

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4 hours ago, waiheke1 said:

Thought he was rubbish for the Aces, probably on a par with Larry Kosta.

If only Bammy had managed to sign Ermolenko instead of Ingels...

...happened to a few riders who moved to Belle Vue during the Bamforth era when he used to throw money around hoping to buy success...Mark Courtenay, Andy Campbell  and Carl Blackbird to name three who had shown varying degrees of success and/or potential prior to moving to 'The Aces' but moved on for various reasons when not truly fulfilling expectations...and not forgetting Mark Crang!

Edited by steve roberts

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It was a bold and brave move for Ipswich to switch direction from largely local based riders to bringing in Sigalos and Cook.

Chalk and cheese in many ways with Sigalos silky smooth and stylish whilst Cook seemed rough around the edges and was all hustle and bustle.

Sigalos for me was only prevented from reaching the very top by injury and could easily have been a worthy world champion at individual level.

Cookie was a fans dream with his all action style and flair and often could pull off moves that defied physics!

I recall him decked out in camoflauge leathers breaking the track record in his opening ride. In his 2nd outing he appeared to be even quicker and destined to smash his newly set time only to bail out spectacularly.

There are not many times when a rider leading so comfortably in race could be so exciting.

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9 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

It was a bold and brave move for Ipswich to switch direction from largely local based riders to bringing in Sigalos and Cook.

Chalk and cheese in many ways with Sigalos silky smooth and stylish whilst Cook seemed rough around the edges and was all hustle and bustle.

Sigalos for me was only prevented from reaching the very top by injury and could easily have been a worthy world champion at individual level.

Cookie was a fans dream with his all action style and flair and often could pull off moves that defied physics!

I recall him decked out in camoflauge leathers breaking the track record in his opening ride. In his 2nd outing he appeared to be even quicker and destined to smash his newly set time only to bail out spectacularly.

There are not many times when a rider leading so comfortably in race could be so exciting.

Sigalos was a real class act and was good anough to be World Champ a great style really  fast   Cook improved no end from being a four pointer into a world class rider.Looking back to Siggy    IF  Siggy, Penhall,  Gundersen,Lee,Nielsen,Sanders,Carter, had stayed around what a era that would of been.

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Guest

The first American rider I saw was Wilbur Lamoreaux in June 1948. He was riding for Wembley at New Cross and making a return to British racing for the first time since 1939, when he was then a Wimbledon rider. Originally I have been under the impression that I first saw Lamoreaux ride for Wembley in a home match against Belle Vue at Wimbledon the previous month but now find such was not the case.

The second Anerican rider I saw, also around the same time, was Charles 'Peewee' Cullum who rode for Belle Vue. This happening was also at New Cross.

I apologise for the fact that both of my sightings were outside the terms of the thread title which is specified as Your memories of Americans in British League (1970-90)

 

Edited by Guest

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On 4/10/2018 at 10:39 PM, andout said:

Too bad DeWayne Keeter just misses out (1969).....

I was going to mention him as he was the first american rider I recall seeing.

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Unless my memory is playing tricks I was at white City when Penhall rode his first meeting in Britain. He was totally outclassed but got the hang of it pdq.

Have I got my wires crossed?.

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1 minute ago, customhouseregular said:

Unless my memory is playing tricks I was at white City when Penhall rode his first meeting in Britain. He was totally outclassed but got the hang of it pdq.

Have I got my wires crossed?.

I was there too.

It was Penhall and Mike Bast in an Inter Continental Final (I think). Both were out of their depth, although it could have partly been down to machinery. I think it was Penhall who scored the lone point they scored between them by beating Bast.

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I am another who was at White City to see Bruce and Mike Bast

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11 hours ago, iris123 said:

I am another who was at White City to see Bruce and Mike Bast

Me too, and I was at Plough Lane when they had a practice before the I-C Final...

Steve

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