miro

I thought it was Coventry and Les Owen but later, must be another of his many other injuries. Didn't he miss a whole season because of injury and run a Petrol station on the Cowley Road or am I completely wrong on that? also didn't he nearly blow himself up once in a workshop accident?

Brian I think the chap who lost his life in that car crash was Terry Courtnell, other passengers alongside Genno I believe were Howdy Byford and Dennis Newton who were on tour together. Arne Pander had some terrible knocks and had his skull fractured too which really did for his career - in 1966 v Coventry? Pip Lamb and John Hack were promising young Oxford riders who both suffered terrible injuries.

1968 Oxford mystery man If not Poyser then Andreasen, though he looked more Danish somehow Not Pete Saunders and certainly not Ted Spittles! any offers?

Some Oxford updates 68-1 Eddie Reeves and Godtfred Andreasen lead Mike Broadbank 68-5 John Poyser 68-1 Leo McCauliffe and Ronnie Genz for Oxford v Newport unknowns 68-3 and 68-4 Eddie Reeves corrected 68-1 Colin Gooddy and Les Owen Coventry 68-1 John Bishop v Swindon unknowns * Godtfred Andreasen outside Mike Broadbank

How could I forget Garry Middleton! Was anything ever discovered to confirm the rumour of his suicide that went around a few years ago?

Martin Yeates was at Oxford in the National League in 1977 on loan from Poole, and was immaculate all season for the Cheetahs finishing with a 10+ average. Highlight was seeing him win the Warners Grand National at Hackney with a full house, Oxford fans running on the dog track to celebrate. Happy days.

I believe Nygren rode in Sweden until 1979

25 yearfan you got me wondering, but I've had a look in the books and Bales rode 34 times for Sheffield in 1969 and retired after 21 years as a rider, and a great rider he was too.

I saw Billy Bales ride for Sheffield in 1969 for sure

Conny Samuelsson rode for the Vetlanda club in Sweden every season between a first appearance in 1964 up to a final two outings in 1999 His only other club was Oxford in 1969.

Right - it was an incident with Ronnie Genz in 1971 on the second bend that didn't look too serious, Olsen injured his arm I thought, that was the start of his problem with Oxford.

Leo McAuliffe was at Oxford last as I remember in 1968 and 69. He always rode without a peak on his crash helmet for some reason, just his preference I guess.

Sad news indeed. Oyvind was a tower of strength for the Cheetahs, a tough and really popular rider who always gave his best, someone we could count on in the terrible season of 1971, stayed for another year with the Rebels. I found some photos of him only the other day, and this news coming at the time when the club is as good as finished. RIP Oyvind.

'Brisbane Smith' was an alias, was it not, used by an English rider at the end of the 1920s. Can anyone remind me of his real name?

Sad to see Bysarna have ridden their last home meeting at the Galgberget track. Can any Swedish friends say what Bysarnas future is - will they get a new track, and if so when and where?

Rider in question adopted the name Brisbane Smith because he figured he would get more rides if people thought he was Australian, wasn't that it? I was just curious about his true identity, I read it somewhere a couple of years ago.

I think that was a 'James' motorcycle he was riding ...

Thanks Ghostwalker Labro looks a long way from Visby - 30km? I hope they can find a new home and perhaps get back to being the succesful team they once were, though it's hard for any club to start again. Good luck to them.

Tilehurst closed at the end of 1973.

Once called 'the next Peter Craven', David Crane had a bad accident at Leicester in early 1968 when riding for Kings Lynn, and never regained his form. To the best of my knowledge his final season was at Oxford as reserve in 1969, sadly he was very out of touch at the end.

Oxford Motorcycle Speedway Club held meetings at Cowley Stadium Oxford up until 29/10 in 1939, and between 28/4 and 9/6 in 1940 and on 4/5 and 6/6 in 1941.

On the fascinating 'Nation on Film' series on BBC 4 a few weeks ago a brief clip was shown of the start of a race in a league meeting at - as far as I could tell - Crystal Palace, an extract from a film by the amateur filmamker Claude Endicott - did anyone see it?

In 1968 they wore black with a red chevron.

We've had this before I think. There were several case in the early 20th century of places of sport or amusement parks in the US as well as the UK being named 'White City', I daresay it was a generic name that had some currency at the time. It could be that White City in the context of an exhibition site or outdoor venue could come from Chicago in 1893, I found this: "The White City was the popular nickname for the section of Chicago near the lake which was built for the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. It was, perhaps, the most popular and successful world’s fair in history, and some of the buildings created for "The White City" survive. An example is the building that now houses the Field Museum in Chicago. The reason for the nickname is that the fair was completely lighted by electricity, and all of the buildings were brightly illuminated at night with flood lights". Like Chadster says, the covered walkways to the London site were still in place a couple of years ago.