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norbold

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Posts posted by norbold

  1. Posted · Edited by norbold

    19 hours ago, chunky said:

    I seem to recall reading about an individual whose "First ever race" was at New Cross on Wednesday, April 17, 1946. Perhaps iris123 noted the identity of that individual?

    I think there were several people at that meeting including Speedyguy, Gustix, Mr Hyam and someone called Jack Keen who I believe came from Erith in Kent.

  2. Posted

    On 2/25/2024 at 9:26 AM, jrs said:

    It's a bit frightening eh, I'd slot in at number 25, I haven't seen Gemini around the forum for a while but I think she slots in at number 16 in these days of equality.  

    Gem is still active on Facebook.

    • Like 1

  3. Posted

    17 minutes ago, iris123 said:

    Yes, but they were always heading for trouble if a London club entered. Which Hackney eventually did, and they still kept the name, which made it even stranger. 

     

    ...and New Cross!!!

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    23 minutes ago, iris123 said:

    Nothing really, but i was just wondering if there was an explanation as to why they named the league Provincial ? Having no affinity to the league, it just strikes me as a very strange name to give it

    Presumably because all the tracks (originally) were outside London. It also harked back to the pre-War Provincial League which was an equivalent sort of second division.

  5. Posted · Edited by norbold

    2 hours ago, Beirao said:

    The top four in the BL were all former NL tracks which suggests the top heavy approach followed by picking up better second strings by mid summer paid dividends. Coventry got Les Owen back, West Ham added Tony Clarke, Oxford Stan Stevens and Wimbledon dropped Geoff Hughes though not sure who replaced him.

    West Ham's win was more to do with the great improvement in Malcom Simmons' form than in adding Tony Clarke. Malcolm was, of course, a former PL rider.

  7. Posted · Edited by norbold

    3 hours ago, E I Addio said:

    Thank you . Everything I’ve ever read about Tommy Price suggests he was a far better rider than results suggest, perhaps not in his technical skills but he certainly seems to have been a “hard man” and somewhat ahead of the game mechanically. He apparently geared his bike half a tooth lower than everyone else round Wembley on the basis that if he got in front by the first bend, he was such a hard man to pass that he was likely to hang on to that a early lead. In the workshop he drilled extra oil ways to avoid the engine failures occurring to the early J.A,P’s in those days. He also used to start warming his bike up earlier than anyone else because had a special barrel in his JAP engine although I can’t remember what it was made of, or whether it actually was a special barrel or just psychological mind games to con or intimidate the others !

    Certainly one rider I wish I’d seen and it’s probably fair to say that if WW2 had not intervened he would likely have had a much better record than he has today.

    Yes, I agree. I think Tommy Price was a better rider and more worthy World Champion (twice if you include the 1946 Riders' Championship) than he is generally given credit for. The fact he and Freddie Williams were both Wembley riders and therefore riding at home always seems to mark them down a bit.

    The "missing years", 1939-1945, are, of course, a field of endless speculation. There are a number of riders who are often touted as losing out on multiple world championships. Tommy, as you mention, but also Vic Duggan, Jack Parker, Cordy Milne, Arthur Atkinson, Eric Chitty, Eric Langton and Aub Lawson in particular. But there were many others who would have been contenders - Lionel Van Praag, Ron Johnson, Bill Kitchen, Jack Milne, Wilbur Lamoreaux....and on and on!

    • Like 1

  8. Posted


    Not easy to come by. In 1992, Money for Speed was included in the BFI's Missing Believed Lost project, a list of 100 lost British feature films that it was hoped could somehow be recovered.

    Two prints were later found, one dubbed into French and the other with German subtitles. Don't know how you can get to see them though.

  11. Posted

    I saw both the qualifying round at New Cross and the final at Harringay. I have to say I am not sure why Harringay was chosen. Harringay had closed in 1954, so it was a bit of curious choice. The only other meeting held there that year was the Provincial League Riders' Championship final. And they were the last two meetings ever held at Harringay.

    The qualifying round at New Cross did give us the chance to seeing foreign  riders we might not otherwise have seen. I remember seeing the Finnish rider, Timo Laine, for example.

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    2 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

    Split I am in an even worse shape than you, I gotta go to young Jim McMillan at #31. I can recall watching Jim's older brother, Bill, and seeing Jim starting out. Class bloke!! Wot about others of our generation e.g. Norbold, BL65 where would you rank!!

    Doug Wyer is the first one younger than me. I feel like quite a youngster now compared to you and Split!

  18. Posted

    58 minutes ago, BL65 said:

    The attendance for the opening meeting at Norwich in 1964 (v West Ham) was reported as 8,026.  A few weeks later 4,677 saw the Norwich match against Swindon, but the average in the opening weeks of the season was around 7,000. According to the Hackney Gazette around 4,500 saw the match between Hackney and Poole in June.

    Thanks, BL. Do you know how many attended West Ham's opening meeting in 1964?

  19. Posted

    17 minutes ago, chunky said:

    Um... Because we don't have any tracks in London??? :rolleyes:

    I said "like that", not exactly the same as that! For example, North v. Midlands would be "like that". ;)

  20. Posted

    I did enjoy PL meetings. It was all speedway! I suppose the only thing I missed about the NL in 63 was seeing the big names like Ove Fundin, Barry Briggs and, for me, Split Waterman.

    I have no idea how Hackney gates compared. I never went to Norwich and, during 1963&4, only once to Wimbledon (to see a London v. Midlands match - why don't we have meetings like that any more!?). New Cross's gates were very poor in 1963 and led to them folding up during the season. It has been said that the crowds didn't come because they had been used to seeing the top riders.

  21. Posted

    On 12/26/2023 at 3:32 PM, BOBBATH said:

     

    One question, I know you weren't into the PL but did you ever consider following Hackney when they started up in the PL. I loved the action in the PL- always eventful.

    Incidentally, BOBBATH, as far as the PL was concerned, as well as going to Hackney every week in 1963&4 (see my comment above) I did also, of course, support New Cross in their 1963 PL days and went there every week as well, so it wouldn't really be true to say I wasn't "into the PL".

  22. Posted · Edited by norbold

    11 minutes ago, chunky said:

    Personally, I think my dream league would be Wimbledon, Wembley, West Ham, Hackney, White City, Walthamstow, Harringay, Barnet, Romford, Rayleigh, Rye House, Crayford, Reading, Lea Bridge, Stamford Bridge, Arena Essex, Crystal Palace, Dagenham, Catford, and Greenford.

    No High Beech or New Cross?

  23. Posted · Edited by norbold

    The 1960 final was at Cradley Heath. The 1961 final was at Harringay.

    In 1963 and 1964, when Hackney was in the Provincial League, I lived in walking distance of the stadium (about 20 minutes across Hackney Marshes) and went there every week!

  24. Posted

    13 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

    Would Reg Reeves have finished second in 1961 without TR's e.f.. I guess Trevor Redmond won it in 1960? Merry Xmas all.

    Yes, Reg would have been second. Redmond and Reeves were the best two riders on the night and going into their last heat (Heat 17), they were both unbeaten. Redmond shot off into the lead and opened up a big gap on Reeves. As he entered the last bend on the fourth lap it looked all over - Redmond was clearly the dominant rider of the night. Into the last turn and the title was a formality, but then, disaster - entering 4/4, his primary chain broke. The loss of power tossed him off his bike. Somehow he managed to hold on to the bike and remount, but went straight into the fence. It was all over for him and he finished last. It was just such bad luck - if the chain had snapped coming out of the bend, it is likely he would still have been able to coast to victory, such was his lead. Which is why I said above that it was the greatest injustice I have seen to this day. Redmond was so clearly - and by far - the best rider there on the night.

    He finished on 12 points, the same as Maury Mattingley, who he easily beat in the run-off for second place.

    And yes, Redmond won in 1960.

  25. Posted · Edited by norbold

    8 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

    Thanks guys, BTW did anyone in forumland ever get to see a PLRC Final- I think maybe Norbold was at Harringay in 1960 when Reg Reeves won  following Trevor Redmonds'  e.f after he was unbeaten from four rides. Anybody else BL65 maybe?. 

    Yes, I was there, though it was 1961, not 1960. Even to this day, 62 years later, it still ranks as the greatest injustice I ever saw on a speedway track!

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