HertsRacer

Looks like the same article that is in this weeks Speedway Star.

Think it was after this tour that Hoskins and Frank Arthur formed a company to run speedway and cars at the Sydney Royale. Jack Ormston took 1933 off to run the family butchers business, returning to Halls Green the next season. Ray Tauser was recovering from a bad injury I think.

His Instagram account says he lives in Somerset. Don't know when that was posted though.

Could this have been Max Rech who was Polish and rode for Fleetwood and St Austell in the early 1950's. I read somewhere that he settled in England after retiring from speedway.

How about Danish rider Arne Pander ? Know he died in a nursing home in Kings Lynn.

Sandor LevaI remained in England until 1989 when he sold his business and returned to Hungary. He died there in 2009.

Go onto Speedway Researcher website under team by team, Swindon, all the details are there. Briggo scored an 18 point max that night.

Thought I read years ago that one of the conditions of the grants received to help build Northside was that professional racing was not allowed. Has that changed or was I just imagining it?

1st August 1961, Parents (both former Wembley and Harringay supporters) took me while on holiday to an East Anglican League match between Yarmouth and Norwich 'B'. Heat 1 won by Roy Trigg (Y) followed by Clive Featherby (N), Peter Atkins (N), and Johnny Fitzpatrick (Y). The Bloaters won 39-37 after both Norwich riders failed to finish in the last heat. Been hooked ever since.

Definitely Wal Morton.

Remember him being involved with Rye House. Think there was an individual trophy named after him which was raced for. I remember him being smallish in statue, with black hair and black framed glasses. I may be wrong, but I think he died a lot longer than ten years ago.

Always thought it was the local council rather than developers who wanted the land for redevelopment, and refused to extend the lease.

You are quite right in that Quest and Quest Red are both owned by Discovery Inc. Although I can't find any record of Quest Red ever showing sport, Quest have shown Superbikes, MotoGP, Formula E, Le Mans, Darts, Snooker, Football etc either live or highlights. Always thought Eurosport was available on Freeview, but as I don't use it I may be wrong. Certainly Quest is available on Virgin, not sure about Quest Red.

Not quite. Eurosport is owned by US media company Discovery Inc. The Discovery Channel is their major American channel. Eurosport is their worldwide sports outlet.

With so many amazingly knowledgeable people on this site, I wonder if anybody could help me with any information about a rider called Joe Neath who rode in three open meetings at Rye House in 1960 as well as representing Rayleigh in a 4 team tournament. It's an unusual surname, but one we share, and I would like to find out if we were related in any way. The only other rider I know of with this surname was Chris Neath, who I'm not directly related with.

Steve Many thanks for that. I've managed to find the 1955 article (and others) through the British Newspaper Archives. Seems he was a grass tracker before he tried speedway. Once again thanks for all your efforts, very much appreciated.

Many thanks Steve, some great stuff there. I can only find him riding speedway in early 1960, so he may well have just flirted with the sport and moved on. The fact he appeared at Coventry and Hednesford would suggest he may have been part of the Leicestershire branch of our family.

The tracks of a couple of Scottish non-league teams. Cowdenbeath and Newtongrange were both around football pitches.

Although entertainment tax killed many tracks, attendances were already falling after the post war boom. You are right about the number of venues available at the time, many of which have now been demolished. Looking at pictures of some of these venues, which were right next to houses, they would never have got planning permission these days.

Indeed. For whatever reason speedway was not classified as a sport but as an entertainment which had a much higher rate of tax.

Problem is there is no atmosphere at live speedway these days, so you don't miss anything by watching it on TV. I watch ice hockey on TV and it is a bit dull, but go to a live match the atmosphere is electric with plenty of away supporters and lots of banter. I would always rather pay to watch a game live than watch it on TV.

Always thought the racing at Brooklands was good. Thinking back Wembley was ok, as was White City. Also went to Rochdale which was around a rugby pitch, though I can't remember what the racing was like, and Nelson which had a football pitch, the track being narrow and virtually square in shape. That was awful.

I'm sure the greyhound stadium would have been the first place The Bombers looked at after they were kicked out of Brooklands. Far too close to housing for it to happen.

Try http://www.historicspeedway.co.nz/Fay Taylour.htm or just type Fay Taylour speedway into your search engine. There's lots available.

It is generally thought that the decline in pubs, cinemas, theatres and sporting venues, can be blamed directly on the Queen. Her Coronation in 1953 led to thousands of people buying or renting television sets to watch the event, and meant that in future they no longer needed to leave their houses to find entertainment.