salty

Bet you the Danes (also a neighbour of Germany) don't have a German rider as a Wild Card. Feel sorry for Topinka, last year he gave a great wild card performance and should have been selected again.

I remember when Paul was 14 or 15 and he used to have after the meeting rides at Plough Lane. Honestly thought he would go onto really big things, but a nasty injury (was it at Middlesbrough?) seemed to knock the stuffing out of him.

Think the only reason that White City were called the Rebels in the late 70's was because that was the nickname of the Oxford team who moved there. Having said that using the Confederate flag wouldn't probably have been the smartest move given the rich mix of cultures resident in that part of West London.

Great to see these Heathens heroes still going strong. Good old Triggy!!!!

James Moore, New Zealander who rode for cradley and Oxfors in the late 70's? What is so special about that I hear you ask? Because his full name was...James Timy Te-Kerehi Herini-Moore. Only tenuously linked but I had a lot of time for the person who named their racehorses Betty Swallocks, Mary Hinge and Cunning Stunt respectively. (trained by Julie Cecil in the early 90's I believe)

As I have mentioned before on a similar thread, there is a great interest in bike racing in Northern Ireland, but it is all devoted to road racing. Last meeting held over here afaik was in about 1981/2 at Ballymena involving a Cradley team. Reportedly a crowd of approx 5,000 attended. Positives for Ireland: Population crying out for top class sport. Ulster Rugby Union matches in the Heineken Cup attract five figure crowds and the Belfast giants Ice Hockey team attract a good following(not so sure that is still the case) A bike racing culture exists. Negatives: Bike racing culture is not the same as Speedway culture. Accessibility for riders/machinery, quickest ferries are about 1 1/2 hours,but that is from Stranraer! Can't see a way round that problem!!!! P.S. Edgar Stangeland lives over here.

Last time I saw Speedy Pete he was Team manager for Poole in the 1983 season. Don't know if he stayed in the sport after that.

Heat 1. Siagalos,Carter,Penhall,Kennett 60.4 (2-4) Heat 2. Simmons,Jessup,Autrey,Schwartz 61.3 (7-5) Heat 3. S.Moran,Davis,K.Moran,Morton 62.3 (9-9) Heat 4. Penhall,Sigalos,Simmons,Jessup 52.6 (10-14) Heat 5. Andy Grahame,Davis,Schwartz,Autrey (15-15) Heat 6. Carter,S.Moran,K.Moran,Kennett 62.4 (18-18) Heat 7 Andy Grahame,Penhall,Sigalos,Alan Grahame(21-21) Heat 8. Carter,Davis,Schwartz,Cook 62.8 (26-22) Heat 9. Simmons,S.Moran,K.Moran,Jessup 62.9 (29-25) Heat 10. Carter,Sigalos,Penhall,Andy Grahame 62.5 (32-28) Heat 11. Simmons,Davis,Schwartz,Oxley 63.1(37-29) Heat 12 Alan Grahame,S.Moran,Morton,K.Moran 62.3(41-31) Heat 13. Jessup,Sigalos,Penhall,Simmons 62.3(44-34) Heat 14. Alan Grahame,Morton,Schwartz,Cook 63.7 (49-35) Heat 15. Carter,Andy Grahame,S.Moran,K.Moran 63.8(54-36) Heat 16. Sigalos,Morton,Penhall,Alan Grahame 63.7 (56-40) Heat 17. Carter,Schwartz,Andy Grahame,Autrey 64.0(60-42) Heat 18. S.Moran,Simmons,Jessup,K.Moran 63.8 (63-45) Scorers Carter 17(6) Kennett 0(2) Jessup 6+2(5) Simmons 12(6) Alan Grahame 6(4) Morton 5+1 (4) Davis 8+3 (4) Andy Grahame 9+1 (5) Penhall 9+2 (6) Sigalos 13+2 (6) Autrey 1(3) Schwartz 6 (6) K.Moran 3+2 (6) S.Moran 13(6) Oxley 0(1) Cook 0(2) Very wet night if memory serves. Regards Kennett

Sad news, if not unexpected. Condolences to all. Remember him more as the manager than as a rider, like Honey I would have given him a tough ride from the first bend...., but looking back he did a reasonably good job considering the lack of support from the stadium owners.

Further to Norbold's post you will need to know how many rides (for averages purposes) Kilby 17 (7) Andersson 10 (6) Bouchard 2 (5) McNeil 1 (3) Karlsson 1 (2) D.Ashby 0 (2) Pope 0 (1)

In my years watching at Plough Lane the best visiting performance I remember was Martin Dixon when he was riding for Middlesbrough in about 1987? He won about 3 races in the match from the back and also won the Silver helmet with an overtake on Neville Tatum. At a track where overtaking was somewhat rare that performance really sticks in my mind.

Paul Dugard, much trumpeted arrival but sank without trace. Steve Collins, similarly expectations were too high because of family. Carl Blackbird, like mark courtney a big money signing for the Aces who was unable to justify the fee. Andrew Silver, fantastic in the NL, but never reached as high as I thought he would. Countless foreign signings over the years. Like others I disagree with the word shame, maybe disappointment....

Leicester. John Titman, Ila Teromaa and Jerzy Rembas. Rembas nearly won even though his league average was less than 5.00.

According to the Cradley book mentioned previously, the roots of the "feud" lay in a Scratch race Final between the two when Ivan was guesting for Wolves. In that version Ivor was twice knocked off. The real explosion taking place at Brough later in the season when Ivor rode Ivan very,very wide (he didn't fall) and resulted in heated exchanges in the pits. Later in the meeting (again the Scratch race final) Mauger made it clear to everyone he was out to get Brown, even telling the other 2 riders to stay out of the way. Mauger then allowed Brown to gate before storming under him on the first turn, fencing him and leaving Brown with a stretcher ride, trip to Hospital and 4 weeks sidelined with a badly gashed foot. The truth???? who knows?

According to Peter Fosters Cradley book the person referred to is Ivor Brown, who had a number of run-in's with Mauger in the 1964 season.

Norbold. Thanks for that info, I stand corrected.

Cheers Norbold, I will have to check, can't see that we would have ridden you more than once that season though. As it happens the 2nd match I ever saw was a double header at the end of the 68 season Heathens v Hackney followed by the Hammers. Hurri-Ken got 3 wins.....but 40-38 to the Heathens.

By the end of the 1965 season according to Peter Foster's history of the Heathens the side were in disarray, with top man Ivor Brown out injured. Re the match you talk about Norbold..."In a match at Dudley Wood against West Ham, Hart(Johnny) again walked out, claiming that conditions were too bad to take part, and the Heathens took another trouncing"

Don't know whether you can count Neilsen as a Wolves World champ, he had left Monmore some 6 years before he won his first title. How long did Siggy ride for Wolves? I always thought of him as an Ipswich man. By the same token I don't know whether we can claim Michanek, as he only rode about half a season.

Cradley v Newport 27th June 1970 Heat 1. Persson,Levai,Simensson,Strachan 68.6 (4-2) Heat 2. Hughes,Erskine,Wakefield,Gardner(fell,inj) 70.8(5-7) Heat 3. Trigg,Stangeland,Brannefors,Squibb 69.2 (8-10) Heat 4. Pratt,Andrew,Wakefield,Erskine 69.8 (12-12) Heat 5. Trigg,Levai,Squibb,Strachan 69.2 (16-14) Heat 6. Persson,Andrew,Hughes,Simensson 70.2 (19-17) Heat 7. Pratt,Brannefors,Stangeland,Wakefield 70.0 (22-20) Heat 8. Simensson,Erskine,Hughes,Wakefield(mf)70.6 (25-23) Heat 9. Trigg,Andrew,Squibb,Hughes 70.0(29-25) Heat 10. Simensson,Persson,Stangeland,Erskine,Brannefors(exc tapes) 70.4 (34-26) Heat 11. Pratt,Levai,Andrew,Wakefield 70.4 (37-29) Heat 12. Persson,Andrew,Squibb,Brannefors 70.4 (41-31) Heat 13. Levai,Stangeland,Pratt,Trigg 70.6 (42-36)

Tony I have tried VSM a couple of times but having first seen the sport in '68, a number of the articles were before my time (albeit very interesting). However, I will be far more likely to subscribe to read about stuff that I can remember the 1st time around so I guess I am pleased to see that shift in emphasis. On the point of Lokeren, I seem to remember 5-1 magazine did a lengthy feature on it a few years back, but it would be a good subject to revisit. As a Cradley fan we were affected through the injuries to Pratty and also the death of Mal Carmichael who had been riding 2nd halves at Dudley Wood, but I can still vividly remember the front cover of the local newspaper (Express & Star) and the page being devoted to the tragedy.

From what I remember there was a competition for local schools to design a race jacket and it just needed to say 'Dukes' and 'Coalite' (then sponsers) on it the rest was imagination The so called cross went after a few years and was replaced by a crown on a ble and red shield sort of design. Thanks jez, glad to know there wasn't any logic involved.

When the Dukes moved to Bradford why did they get rid of the Elephant and have a cross on their race-jackets?

The 8 teams will be?? Oz, Sweden, GB, Denmark, Poland, Czech Rep plus 2 qualifiers.