Your best speedway year

[Grand Central 2,654]

20 minutes ago, norbold said:

Yes, won by Michael Lee. And it was freezing cold!

We managed to get seats in the grandstand where it was only minus 10C.

[chunky 6,068]

1 hour ago, BOBBATH said:

I got an 'orrible feeling that the dross you are talking about includes the homes of my 2 favourite teams-Somerton Park Newport and Station Road Long Eaton!!! Any other candidates you can think of??

I know you are talking about the 60's, but I went to Station Rd a number of times for NL meetings, and it wasn't bad.

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

2 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

I got an 'orrible feeling that the dross you are talking about includes the homes of my 2 favourite teams-Somerton Park Newport and Station Road Long Eaton!!! Any other candidates you can think of??

Only went to Newport twice BOBBATH Crumpy  nearly unbeatable there a strange track though Station Rd Long Eaton never got to go there. Yes saw plenty of dross even at Swindon and that was renowned as a superb racing strip, i think in our romantic notion everything was great and exciting.But overall would not change a thing really enjoyed my speedway time and Saturday was an exciting night to look forward to.What do you think BOBBATH ?? a Saturday night at the Abbey or sitting in with Mum/Dad watching the Black/White/ Minstrels or Val Doonican in his rocking chair  god what an exciting life we led but it still has a place in my heart though.

Edited April 29, 2020 by Sidney the robin

[Andrew 125]

8 hours ago, racers and royals said:

There was one at Swindon 1990.

Was that re-staged as it was called off? Me and dad were going to watch the meeting,while my brother and mum went onto visit Stonehenge and Avebury. We'd  got to Blundson after a wet drive from Bromsgrove where we were staying with family,only to find it was off.So we went on to visit the aforementioned plus we went up Silbury Hill and saw a couple of crop circles that were all the rage that summer!

Edited April 29, 2020 by Andrew

[BOBBATH 466]

On ‎4‎/‎29‎/‎2020 at 2:49 PM, Sidney the robin said:

Only went to Newport twice BOBBATH Crumpy  nearly unbeatable there a strange track though Station Rd Long Eaton never got to go there. Yes saw plenty of dross even at Swindon and that was renowned as a superb racing strip, i think in our romantic notion everything was great and exciting.But overall would not change a thing really enjoyed my speedway time and Saturday was an exciting night to look forward to.What do you think BOBBATH ?? a Saturday night at the Abbey or sitting in with Mum/Dad watching the Black/White/ Minstrels or Val Doonican in his rocking chair  god what an exciting life we led but it still has a place in my heart though.

Hi Sid. Enjoyed your post.  Re your comments on The Abbey-it was the first ex NL track I visited in "The Best Year"  1965. Went on a bus with other Newport supporters. Your post prompted me to dig out the programme-it was July17th 1965- Robins won-no surprise 48-30. Newport had only 2 heat winners- Jack Biggs in Heat 5 and Alby Golden in Heat 8-both were the reserve races.. Typical of many ex NL teams in the first BL year, Robins heat leaders were unbeatable but they had a long taikl--some of their lower order riders were almost just second halfers (although Robins did have Bob Kilby as a second string-he was just starting out. The Robins Heat Leaders were Briggs (scoring 11) Ashby and Broadbanks both scoring 12-Briggo's only dropped point was against Mike Broadbanks -so paid max. for Briggo. Also typical of that year the ex PL teams had more strength in middle order with Golden (8) Vandenberg(8) and Biggs(9).

  Another memory of that time is that after the meeting we went with other supporters of both teams to the bar-it was above the terracing I think and you reached it by outside stairs. Main point is practically all the riders were there, regular folks chatting to everyone-I remember having a good conversation with Alby Golden for example. All the fans of both teams were friendly to each other also-nice people. Days long gone indeed.

One thing I'd forgotten was that Peter Sampson was riding for the Robins-he of course now runs the Paradise Wildlife Park with the Speedway Museum and is a great supporter of the WSRA. Good on Peter

Subsequently I got to visit all of the surviving 1964 NL tracks (many in later years on vacation in UK)-Belle Vue, Oxford, West Ham, Wimbledon-now sadly all gone-what a damn shame. Anyway, hope this post brings back some memories for other 1965 fans

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

 

 

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

3 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

Hi Sid. Enjoyed your post.  Re your comments on The Abbey-it was the first ex NL track I visited in "The Best Year"  1965. Went on a bus with other Newport supporters. Your post prompted me to dig out the programme-it was July17th 1965- Robins won-no surprise 48-30. Newport had only 2 heat winners- Jack Biggs in Heat 5 and Alby Golden in Heat 8-both were the reserve races.. Typical of many ex NL teams in the first BL year, Robins heat leaders were unbeatable but they had a long taikl--some of their lower order riders were almost just second halfers (although Robins did have Bob Kilby as a second string-he was just starting out. The Robins Heat Leaders were Briggs (scoring 11) Ashby and Broadbanks both scoring 12-Briggo's only dropped point was against Mike Broadbanks -so paid max. for Briggo. Also typical of that year the ex PL teams had more strength in middle order with Golden (8) Vandenberg(8) and Biggs(9).

  Another memory of that time is that after the meeting we went with other supporters of both teams to the bar-it was above the terracing I think and you reached it by outside stairs. Main point is practically all the riders were there, regular folks chatting to everyone-I remember having a good conversation with Alby Golden for example. All the fans of both teams were friendly to each other also-nice people. Days long gone indeed.

One thing I'd forgotten was that Peter Sampson was riding for the Robins-he of course now runs the Paradise Wildlife Park with the Speedway Museum and is a great supporter of the WSRA. Good on Peter

Subsequently I got to visit all of the surviving 1964 NL tracks (many in later years on vacation in UK)-Belle Vue, Oxford, West Ham, Wimbledon-now sadly all gone-what a damn shame. Anyway, hope this post brings back some memories for other 1965 fans

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

 

 

I enjoyed your post Bobbath you have a great memory, Jack Biggs should he have been World Champ when Youngy won it?? did the nerves get to Jack we will never know eh.!!

[BOBBATH 466]

2 hours ago, Sidney the robin said:

I enjoyed your post Bobbath you have a great memory, Jack Biggs should he have been World Champ when Youngy won it?? did the nerves get to Jack we will never know eh.!!

My pleasure Sid, and thank you because it prompted me to look at my old programmes- I have every programme for every meeting I attended-all here in Canada. I looked back at other 1965 programmes and while many of the top ex NL stars lived up to their reputation-some did not (may have been the Somerton Park track)-don't know if others noticed similar things at those early BL meetings.. Getting back to that programme there was a section called Bryan Seery's notebook, and he noted that the biggest BL victory so far had been  Glasgow defeating Long Eaton 60-18 (Long Eaton had done well in the first couple of matches but then suffered dreadful injuries and ended up finishing with the wooden spoon), but then  last Saturday before the Swindon meeting  this feat had been  surpassed by Halifax winning  62-16 against Cradley Heath. the great man predicted that this would surely last the season out.

  Sadly the great man was wrong  because in October(on my birthday no less) Wolves defeated the mighty Newport(my team) 64-14!!! What a disaster.

I did admire Bryan's contribution to Speedway Stats. however -he came up with the idea of CMA in 1965, previously the old idea was number of points divided by number of meetings-which was in my view not an accurate comparator e.g. one guy could score 8 points from 3 rides while another could score 8 from 5 rides so the former would rightly have a higher CMA. I think the wonderful folks at Speedway Researcher have gone back before 1965 and figured out riders' averages using the CMA system. Bryan was quite a numbers guy(think he may have been a maths teacher) -I am pretty sure he has passed away-do any forumlanders know when or anything else about Bryan.

 

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

57 minutes ago, BOBBATH said:

My pleasure Sid, and thank you because it prompted me to look at my old programmes- I have every programme for every meeting I attended-all here in Canada. I looked back at other 1965 programmes and while many of the top ex NL stars lived up to their reputation-some did not (may have been the Somerton Park track)-don't know if others noticed similar things at those early BL meetings.. Getting back to that programme there was a section called Bryan Seery's notebook, and he noted that the biggest BL victory so far had been  Glasgow defeating Long Eaton 60-18 (Long Eaton had done well in the first couple of matches but then suffered dreadful injuries and ended up finishing with the wooden spoon), but then  last Saturday before the Swindon meeting  this feat had been  surpassed by Halifax winning  62-16 against Cradley Heath. the great man predicted that this would surely last the season out.

  Sadly the great man was wrong  because in October(on my birthday no less) Wolves defeated the mighty Newport(my team) 64-14!!! What a disaster.

I did admire Bryan's contribution to Speedway Stats. however -he came up with the idea of CMA in 1965, previously the old idea was number of points divided by number of meetings-which was in my view not an accurate comparator e.g. one guy could score 8 points from 3 rides while another could score 8 from 5 rides so the former would rightly have a higher CMA. I think the wonderful folks at Speedway Researcher have gone back before 1965 and figured out riders' averages using the CMA system. Bryan was quite a numbers guy(think he may have been a maths teacher) -I am pretty sure he has passed away-do any forumlanders know when or anything else about Bryan.

 

Yes BOBBATH Bryan Seery left his own legacy he was a terrific read in the speedway star i loved his input.He certainly had a knack with stats and was very good at it he passed away  in 2017 aged 81 .

[steve roberts 9,242]

1 hour ago, BOBBATH said:

My pleasure Sid, and thank you because it prompted me to look at my old programmes- I have every programme for every meeting I attended-all here in Canada. I looked back at other 1965 programmes and while many of the top ex NL stars lived up to their reputation-some did not (may have been the Somerton Park track)-don't know if others noticed similar things at those early BL meetings.. Getting back to that programme there was a section called Bryan Seery's notebook, and he noted that the biggest BL victory so far had been  Glasgow defeating Long Eaton 60-18 (Long Eaton had done well in the first couple of matches but then suffered dreadful injuries and ended up finishing with the wooden spoon), but then  last Saturday before the Swindon meeting  this feat had been  surpassed by Halifax winning  62-16 against Cradley Heath. the great man predicted that this would surely last the season out.

  Sadly the great man was wrong  because in October(on my birthday no less) Wolves defeated the mighty Newport(my team) 64-14!!! What a disaster.

I did admire Bryan's contribution to Speedway Stats. however -he came up with the idea of CMA in 1965, previously the old idea was number of points divided by number of meetings-which was in my view not an accurate comparator e.g. one guy could score 8 points from 3 rides while another could score 8 from 5 rides so the former would rightly have a higher CMA. I think the wonderful folks at Speedway Researcher have gone back before 1965 and figured out riders' averages using the CMA system. Bryan was quite a numbers guy(think he may have been a maths teacher) -I am pretty sure he has passed away-do any forumlanders know when or anything else about Bryan.

 

There was an article about Bryan in an edition of "Backtrack" some years back.

Edited May 5, 2020 by steve roberts

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

10 hours ago, steve roberts said:

There was an article about Bryan in an edition of "Backtrack" some years back.

Did Bryan have anything to do with Ivan's 11.74 average being lowered Steve.? correct me if i am wrong are Hans,Ivan, Vic Duggan recognised as having the alltime top 3 averages.?? Was looking through some of Nielsen's stats when he often had a late 10s or 11 plus average he sometimes averaged more away from home.

[steve roberts 9,242]

19 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Did Bryan have anything to do with Ivan's 11.74 average being lowered Steve.? correct me if i am wrong are Hans,Ivan, Vic Duggan recognised as having the alltime top 3 averages.?? Was looking through some of Nielsen's stats when he often had a late 10s or 11 plus average he sometimes averaged more away from home.

I'm not sure Sid...although I think I'm right in saying that Hans had a perfect away average of 12 during "The Cheetahs" all conquering year of 1986 when only the weather managed to beat us!

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

23 hours ago, steve roberts said:

I'm not sure Sid...although I think I'm right in saying that Hans had a perfect away average of 12 during "The Cheetahs" all conquering year of 1986 when only the weather managed to beat us!

I was looking through FOUR  of the greatest   riders of all time stats Steve  in which i believe were there peak years ( could be wrong years???  probably are Norbold/Bobbath /BL65 or Ove should put us right ).  and it is really interesting.  FUNDIN (1956/61   ). - 1956- 10.34.      1957- 10.38.     1958- 11.60.     1959- 11.00      1960- 11.56.        1961-11.51.             NIELSEN ( 1984/1989).  1984- 10.76.     1985-   11.35.     1986- 11.57.    1987-  11.38.    1988- 11.03.   1989-   10.91.        MAUGER (1969/74.)      1969- 11.38.       1970-   11.11.     1971-  11.41.       1972-   11.37.       1973- 11.30.         1974- 10.88.           BRIGGS ( 1965/70).   1965- 10.91.        1966- 11.12.     1967-  11.05.       1968- 10.87.     1969-  11.12.        1970- 10.53.            

Edited May 7, 2020 by Sidney the robin

[BOBBATH 466]

That is fascinating Sid, thanks for doing all the research-wouldn't this make Ivan the overall "best"-over to the Ove fans (thinking of you Norbold!!)

[waiheke1 4,295]

6 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

That is fascinating Sid, thanks for doing all the research-wouldn't this make Ivan the overall "best"-over to the Ove fans (thinking of you Norbold!!)

I think taking those stats only, you'd have to say Hans was the greatest. His average in 89 is equivalent to a high 11+ in other year's when you take into account the nominated rider's heat introduced that year.

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

11 hours ago, waiheke1 said:

I think taking those stats only, you'd have to say Hans was the greatest. His average in 89 is equivalent to a high 11+ in other year's when you take into account the nominated rider's heat introduced that year.

What a terrific record Nielsen had,    Ivan though out of the six years  he had a 11 plus average five times amazing really.Also one of those years he had his average reduced from 11.74 ( an exclusion maybe?).Also your point waiheke1 about the nominated race is so relevant, i wonder how many times Ivan had an easy heat 8 win with the old six point rule.Out of those stats given i was unsure what Briggs best years were? did he win his first two titles when really he was not always on top of his game his best stat years only yielded him one  title.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Sidney the robin