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Sotonian

Kelvin Mullarkey R.I.P

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It's been announced today that Kelvin Mullarkey has died aged 67.

Mostly remembered for his spells at Rye House but I recall him doubling-up with Poole in the late 70's. A real character who never shirked confrontation. RIP Kelvin.

http://www.ryehouserockets.co/news.php?extend.1573

Edited by Sotonian
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Kelvin Mullarky was one of the great characters of British speedway of the 1970's and 80's!

 

His confrontational, loud, aggressive personality which was a bit of a front cause Kelvin wasn't really like that, often overshadowed the fact he was a decent speedway rider!

 

I always felt he could have established himself as a middle order top flight rider had he wanted to but Kelvin seemed happy to be a bigger fish in the National League where his antics would be more appreciated!

 

Got to be one of Rye House Rockets greatest ever riders!

 

I recall him coming out of retirement after initially finishing at Rye after the 1985 season, at Mildenhall then back at Rye House again in the late 80's and did he make a few appearances for Rye House in 1990?

 

Kelvin had to of been one of the last riders in the top 2 Leagues that wore the old style 1970's grey monkey mask?

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Sad News.

R.I.P. + Kelvin.

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Sad news indeed. Remember Kelvin first riding for Weymouth (1974) in a set of Oxford 'Rebels' team leathers. A real character on and off the track.

May he RIP

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I am very sorry to hear the news. When I wrote my history of Rye House, I spoke to many people involved with the club from promoters and managers to riders and fans. All of them had nothing but praise for Kelvin. He was an absolute hero to many and was undoubtedly Mr Rye House to them.

This is a passage from my book that summed up his contribution to Rye House:

"On 16 September [1990], in the home match against Glasgow, Mullarkey fell and never again returned to the track. It was a sad end for the Rockets’ most loyal servant. Nevertheless his fifteen year career as a Rye House rider had been a wonderful example to other riders. His exuberant never-say-die attitude had been an outstanding feature of the team for ten years. He had been a heat leader for seven years, captain of the team that won the cup in 1979 and the league in 1980 and was responsible for holding the team together in the potentially disastrous 1981 season. His commitment to the team was second to none as his massive tally of bonus points in 1979 and 1980 in particular showed. From September 1975 until he left for Canterbury on loan at the start of the 1983 season, he did not miss a single match for Rye House, racking up a total of 295 consecutive league appearances. In 1989, at the age of 38, he made himself available to answer the call of the club when they were in desperate trouble and did the same again in 1990. There is no doubt that Mullarkey has written himself in to the Rye House record books as the most popular rider ever to wear the Rockets’ colours."

Because of this I featured him on the front cover of the book and everyone I spoke to afterwards agreed he was definitely the right choice for the cover.

R.I.P. Kelvin and sincere condolences to family and friends.

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Sad news. Kelvin was the first star of the 1974 Weymouth return to league racing. With just a handful of team matches before that he quickly became our leading scorer and also took over the captaincy when Bob Hughes got injured in mid season. 

A good rider and huge personality Speedway is a that much poorer place now he is no longer with us. 

Condolences to his family. RIP Kelvin. 

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I only recall seeing Kelvin ride at Cradley once, in the mid 70s. I forget who he was riding for, but as a young lad I was very keen to get his autograph. After the meeting I went off looking around the riders cars for him when I spotted what I thought was his bike, Closer examination proved I was right - There on the rear mudguard, boldly displayed was a label typed out in `Letraset` simply saying, ``Kelvin Mullarkey, Rye House and Poland``,

 

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RIP Kelvin. A top NL rider and a great character, who livened up many a Sunday afternoon at Rye.

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As a Crayford fan, Kelvin Mullarkey was something akin to the Dark Lord - at Crayford they said he increased attendance by a couple of hundred just to boo him - and he loved it

One of the last great entertainers - would wind up his opposition fans and at first I hated him but after I had the pleasure of spending a rather drunken evening in Canterbury in his company I realised he really was one of the good guys of the sport and the antics were all for show

Sadly, I don't think our sport will see the likes of him again

Condolences to his family

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Sad news indeed.

Looking back it seems that some sort of controversy arose over Kelvin where Kings Lynn were claiming he was theirs. The good news was that he donned the Rockets colours on Sunday 4th May in a league match against Crayford scoring three points from four rides. The match result was 39 - 39 with top scorer for Rye being Brian Foote with 11 and for Crayford Laurie Etheridge with 12 point maximum. As an aside after 13 heats you had a further 8 races. The cost of a programme 10p. Kelvin went on to be one of the characters you never forget with that cheeky grin and as already been said, another type of speedway character that just simply does not exist today. RIP and thanks for being a ‘special one’ who made speedway entertaining. 

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Dave Mullett told me a lovely story about Kelvin when i phoned him a few days ago to tell him the sad news. I`m sure Dave won`t mind me repeating it here.

Canterbury were on a northern tour and all the team were in one big van and for some reason Kelvin was in his own van following. Unknown to the team Kelvin had fixed a stink bomb in their van which was triggered by the van  breaking, and the smell was so bad they had to do an emergency stop and all pile out with Kelvin stopped behind laughing his head off :D

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Loved this guy, used to have his own section on the end of season thrills & spills videos. RIP Kelvin.

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