Jump to content
British Speedway Forum

norbold

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    11,475

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    23

Posts posted by norbold

  5. Posted

    21 hours ago, BL65 said:

    23rd April 1951 part of Walthamstow v Coventry was broadcast live on BBC.  17th and 24th February 1962 the Grandstand Pairs were shown live from Cradley Heath, also on BBC.  I have a vague recollection that some highlights of Belle Vue v Sheffield from 3rd April 1965 were shown on Grandstand a week later.  The Internationale highlights were shown in the mid-1960s.  Speedway clips were also shown occasionally on the midweek programme 'Sportsview', which became 'Sportsnight' in 1968, with presenters including Peter Dimmock, David Coleman and Harry Carpenter.  Alan Weeks was the Internationale commentator.  He also used to commentate on ice skating, ice hockey and swimming.  He covered speedway World Finals for the BBC from the mid-1950s until the late-1960s.  Weeks was a big speedway fan.

    I seem to recall the BBC used to show the World Championship final live back in the early 50s. Only a vague memory as I was very young, but I do recall seeing it one year while I was at my grandparents' house as I can remember them laughing at the way the commentator pronounced Ronnie Moore's name  as Mooer 

    • Like 2

  6. Posted

    6 hours ago, steve roberts said:

    Reminds me of the story that Ivan Mauger told that when he wore his Duckhams personalised race jacket during a second half at Coventry promoter Charles Ochiltree attemped to stop him from racing? Ivan being ivan just ignored him...how times have changed as regards sponsors and apparently they would laugh about that episode years later.

    Reminds me of Tyburn Gallows not being allowed to wear his CND race jacket.

    • Like 1

  7. Posted

    28 minutes ago, mikebv said:

    His signature move...

    If the riders move over and allow it, then fair play to him for keeping doing it...

    Edit

    A few weeks ago I watched Nicki P change his line and rode about four yards from the kerb down the straight when Bartek was doing his usual "nail them on the apex"...

    On this occasion Bartek had to bail out or hit Nicki's back wheel as he cut across him...

    Nicki obviously watches him race, maybe one or two of the GP lads could do the same,, ...:D

    Or maybe, Nicki should make a comeback!

  11. Posted

    Yes, very sad news. He was a regular at the annual Norwich WSRA Dinner, so I met him many times over the last 20 years or so. A really nice bloke always happy to chat about his Yarmouth and Norwich days.

    • Like 3

  14. Posted

    In 1926, Cambridge undergraduate and keen motorcyclist, Lionel Wills, visited Australia. He later wrote about this visit:

    "To a keen motor-cyclist, a trip to Australia did not hold forth much promise...

    "My first pennyworth of Sydney newspaper contained a pleasant surprise; for there, tucked away in a corner, was the announcement 'Speedway Royal - next Saturday 8 p.m.'

    "A strange new word - 'Speedway';  but it sounded not unlike something to do with motor-cycles.

    "Saturday arrived: I paid my half-dollar and trickled into the grounds. From the other side of the stand came a roar, the old familiar sound of a racing Douglas.....

    "I broke into a run [and] burst into the arena. Two machines were hurtling straight at me at a hundred and fifty miles an hour, neck and neck, clean out of control. They were skidding, broadside on, engines roaring flat out, and for the first time in a mis-spent life I shut my eyes and waited for the crash.

    "No, no crash! Let's have a look, sure enough there they are, blinding down the straight and heeling madly over into the next bend. This time they're for it; they can't get away with that sort of thing twice; the chap on the outside is mad - you can't skid a motor-cycle like that. Hi! Someone stop him and tell him so; this is blue murder.

    "Came a bored voice from behind, 'Shut up, you fool, they're only practising, wait till the racing starts!"
     

    • Like 2

  15. Posted

    I'm not really sure of the origin of the word speedway and how it came to be applied to the sport.


    This is as far as I can trace it. Inventor and entrepreneur, A J Hunting, opened the concrete Marouba Speedway track somewhere round about 1924/5. Before that, a series of small oval track meetings had been held at West Maitland and various other locations. Although they were actually grass tracks, the grass got so worn away that the riders were effectively riding on dirt. Because this made the racing more spectacular, A J Hunting began to create first class dirt tracks from the off, i.e., not relying on the grass being worn away. 

    His first was in Brisbane and it was this track that was really the first specially created dirt track. Others soon followed suit, for example Johnnie Hoskins created Sydney Royal Speedway.

    Hunting then set up his organisation, International Speedways Limited to bring speedway to this country and founded the Speedway News, the first edition of which came out on 19 May, 1928.

    That quote from TwoMinuteWarning that iris reproduced above is not quite accurate as the term speedway is used in that very first Speedway News to denote the racing and not just the stadium or track. For example, there is a large advert on Page 12 for the Gold Helmet which says that "the Gold Helmet is the blue riband of speedway racing....", though, it has to be said that both terms, speedway and dirt track racing, are used throughout.

    Enquiries are ongoing!

     

     

    • Like 4

  17. Posted · Edited by norbold

    2 minutes ago, BL65 said:

    Speedway Researcher site shows in the Sheffield A to Z that Ron Johnson was in a demonstration race at the end of the 1962 season.  I suspect this was his last appearance there.

    Thanks BL, which means the match race series at New Cross in 1963 I quoted were probably his last rides.

  18. Posted

    Thanks for that info, Jonas. I'd be very interested in learning more about that appearance at Sheffield. I have looked at the Speedway Researcher site, but they have no record of it.

  19. Posted

    1 hour ago, BL65 said:

    Peter Moore was regarded as one of the fastest gaters in the sport in the 1950s and early 1960s, particularly during his association with Wimbledon and Ipswich.

    Ray Cresp was another. Whenever Dave Lanning mentioned him in the West Ham programme, his name was always prefixed by "droll slick gating leathery faced Aussie".

    • Like 1

  20. Posted · Edited by norbold

    Funnily enough, one of the fastest gaters I've ever seen is Ron Johnson, who rode in some second halves at New Cross and a few matches for Edinburgh in 1960. He was then 53 years old but still lightning fast out of the gate. The problem was he was so frail he could hardly hold his bike up and was very quickly passed by the other three riders! The reactions were there but not the strength.

    • Like 1

  23. Posted

    8 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

     I reckon he could have made a World Final-does anyone in forumland  know what was the closest he came to qualifying for a WF.

    I think Norman Hunter's best year in the World Championship was 1966 when he finished 13th in the British & Commonwealth final.

×

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

  I accept