Jump to content
British Speedway Forum
Sign in to follow this  
BOBBATH

Oxford 1964

Recommended Posts

Never a top track- always middle or bottom of the NL table, the Cheetahs swept the board and won the last ever NL Championship in 1964. They seemed unstoppable-there was an article in the Speedway Star about their "G" men- Genz, Geran, Goody, Gooch,.. I am trying to recall the others -one was Arne Pander another was Ron How  and  John Bishop.   If they had been left intact  I reckon they would have run away with the title in the first BL season of 1965. Any 1964 Oxford supporters out there who can share their memories with us forumlanders.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

Never a top track- always middle or bottom of the NL table, the Cheetahs swept the board and won the last ever NL Championship in 1964. They seemed unstoppable-there was an article in the Speedway Star about their "G" men- Genz, Geran, Goody, Gooch,.. I am trying to recall the others -one was Arne Pander another was Ron How  and  John Bishop.   If they had been left intact  I reckon they would have run away with the title in the first BL season of 1965. Any 1964 Oxford supporters out there who can share their memories with us forumlanders.

Eddie Reeves was the other. Sadly only Eddie and John Bishop are still with us what with the recent death of Jack Geran. Too early for me but I do know that the promoters pulled out after that season.

Edited by steve roberts

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Going through my Oxford programmes mostly home.        Genz; Gooddy;Geran(c) How,Pander, Gooch, Major,McKee,Bishop, Reeves we’re the mainstay.BOBBATH/ Steve ,?.Danny Dunton,George Summers, Ted Ede also rode have you any recollection of those three riding the latter two i cannot.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
31 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Going through my Oxford programmes mostly home.        Genz; Gooddy;Geran(c) How,Pander, Gooch, Major,McKee,Bishop, Reeves we’re the mainstay.BOBBATH/ Steve ,?.Danny Dunton,George Summers, Ted Ede also rode have you any recollection of those three riding the latter two i cannot.

Danny Dunton in one fixture Sid but not sure about the other two?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Sidney the robin said:

Going through my Oxford programmes mostly home.        Genz; Gooddy;Geran(c) How,Pander, Gooch, Major,McKee,Bishop, Reeves we’re the mainstay.BOBBATH/ Steve ,?.Danny Dunton,George Summers, Ted Ede also rode have you any recollection of those three riding the latter two i cannot.

Ted Ede was a West Ham junior who filled in for Oxford in the meeting at Custom House, replacing John Bishop.  He was a regular in the West Ham team in 1965 and 1966.  George Summers was a former Plymouth and Exeter rider who had started the 1964 season with Swindon.  He rode in a meeting for Oxford at Belle Vue when Jack Geran was missing from the team.

Edited by BL65
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest compost

Oxford rider averages for 1964 (from file on Speedway Researcher) -

image.thumb.png.24c3990a742b41f653178181c187af46.png

Ted Ede etc counted as Guest as 'borrowed' to fill a fixture.

8 man teams that season. Ron How was the 'top man' interestingly enough (very under-rated IMHO)

 

 

Edited by compost
Removed wrong table

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 minutes ago, compost said:

Oxford rider averages for 1964 (from file on Speedway Researcher) -

image.thumb.png.24c3990a742b41f653178181c187af46.png

Ted Ede etc counted as Guest as 'borrowed' to fill a fixture.

8 man teams that season. Ron How was the 'top man' interestingly enough (very under-rated IMHO)

 

image.png

Many thanks for this!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest compost
1 minute ago, steve roberts said:

Many thanks for this!

Thanks Steve.  You were a bit too quick as I was trying to get rid of the duplicate table at the bottom of the post :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
45 minutes ago, BL65 said:

Ted Ede was a West Ham junior who filled in for Oxford in the meeting at Custom House, replacing John Bishop.  He was a regular in the West Ham team in 1965 and 1966.  George Summers was a former Plymouth and Exeter rider who had started the 1964 season with Swindon.  He rode in a meeting for Oxford at Belle Vue when Jack Geran was missing from the team.

Great stuff BL        knew that Summers had ridden for Swindon never Oxford noticed the great survivor Olle Nygren RIP) rode a few meeting’s for them in 1964.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
9 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Off the subject Oxford greats Nielsen, Wigg, Middleton, Genz, Mckinlay, Pander, Lovaas not a bad lot eh!,

...and also add those that rode during the National League era. Yeates, Hunter, Perks, Rumsey, Harrison et al plus Gordon Kennet of course!

  • Thanks 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

How, Gooch and Goody were the heat leaders and Genz, Pander and Geran were the other heat leaders that season ;)

I seem to recall that there were moves to equalise team strengths the following season and the team was torn apart. 

Edited by Split
Correction.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
20 minutes ago, Split said:

How, Gooch and Goody were the heat leaders and Genz, Pander and Geran were the other heat leaders that season ;)

I seem to recall that there were moves to equalise team strengths the following season and the team was torn apart. 

Out of that five Genz, Gooddy and Geran moved on presumeably to balance up team strengths due to the amalgamation of the British and National Leagues? However Oxford stll managed to finish fourth despite loosing How thru' injury.

Edited by steve roberts

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, steve roberts said:

Out of that five Genz, Gooddy and Geran moved on presumeably to balance up team strengths due to the amalgamation of the British and National Leagues? However Oxford stll managed to finish fourth despite loosing How thru' injury.

But for the injury to Ron How it is not inconceivable that Oxford might have pushed West Ham for the title in 1965.  In the final league table West Ham were 7 points ahead on 47 from 34 matches.  When How's career was ended by injury at the beginning of July Oxord had 25 points to West Ham's 18, both from 18 matches.  Following the loss of How, Oxford brought in Stan Stevens and also replaced Glyn Chandler with Jimmy Heard.  Heard averaged 3.56 compared to Chandler's 3.72, whereas Stevens averaged 3.29 compared to How's league average of 10.16.  It is possible that with How Oxford could have turned defeat into victories at home to Wimbledon and away to Wolverhampton and Poole.  An extra point at Newcastle, where the match was drawn, was also a possibility.  The extra 7 league points would have put Oxford level with West Ham.  The crucial match would have been the first away league meeting without How, at West Ham, where the Hammers won by 8 points.  Stevens scored 4 points and as How's scoring had been at least as good as that of Gooch and Pander, who scored 11 and 9 respectively from 4 rides each, it is highly likely that with him in the team a draw at least might have been secured.  This could have left Oxford with 48 and West Ham with 46 points at the end of the season.  Lots of ifs admittedly. 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, BL65 said:

But for the injury to Ron How it is not inconceivable that Oxford might have pushed West Ham for the title in 1965.  In the final league table West Ham were 7 points ahead on 47 from 34 matches.  When How's career was ended by injury at the beginning of July Oxord had 25 points to West Ham's 18, both from 18 matches.  Following the loss of How, Oxford brought in Stan Stevens and also replaced Glyn Chandler with Jimmy Heard.  Heard averaged 3.56 compared to Chandler's 3.72, whereas Stevens averaged 3.29 compared to How's league average of 10.16.  It is possible that with How Oxford could have turned defeat into victories at home to Wimbledon and away to Wolverhampton and Poole.  An extra point at Newcastle, where the match was drawn, was also a possibility.  The extra 7 league points would have put Oxford level with West Ham.  The crucial match would have been the first away league meeting without How, at West Ham, where the Hammers won by 8 points.  Stevens scored 4 points and as How's scoring had been at least as good as that of Gooch and Pander, who scored 11 and 9 respectively from 4 rides each, it is highly likely that with him in the team a draw at least might have been secured.  This could have left Oxford with 48 and West Ham with 46 points at the end of the season.  Lots of ifs admittedly. 

Many thanks for that...brillant analysis!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Privacy Policy