steve roberts

I recently was talking to a stranger in a pub at Pickering whose friend knew Maurice Ducker...they were from Coventry.

Apparently volunteers are being asked to help clean up the stadium in anticipation of re-opening? If I was still local I would certainly make myself known at Sandy Lane having helped out during the rescue of the stadium back in 1976 and also when under the Wagstaff regime. I wish them well!

The old Second Division/National League produced a hot bed of British youngsters (and a few Anzacs!) and it's no accident that when the National League and British League went their seperate ways the talent began to dry up and the National Team lost its world dominance.

Couldn't agree more...speedway for me was meeting up with my mates. Putting the speedway world to rights between races and generally enjoying a night out.

..I certainly wouldn't entertain going to a football match either to be honest. For me to consider a speedway meeting there would have to be at least twenty heats (including a second half of sorts)

During my formative years attending speedway Oxford ran on a Thursday and White City on Wednesdays...didn't effect my schooling I have to say.

I certainly wouldn't be enticed back to speedway if £20 is the going rate...and add petrol on top of that?

The moment we are no longer required to wear a mask (although no doubt some will continue to do so) I will place mine on the drive and put a match to it!

The Leicester rider maybe Norman Storer and the Hackney one Eddie Reeves/Geoff Maloney?

Sad new indeed. Jack was a member of the all conquering "Cheetahs" of 1964 of which now only Eddie Reeves and John Bishop survive. RIP

All my years going to speedway Wolves always seemed to have a policy of fielding foreign riders...even using R/R for Hasse Holmqvist who had no intention of returning to the UK in 1976!

I remember when Trevor Geer's out of control bike mounted the white kerb and sped across the centre green near the start line and hit a marshall breaking his leg.

Personally I think that a speedway meeting promoted in the right way with good track preparation and priced accordingly is still a good night out. Trouble is that personally when I re-located I wasn't prepared to drive a goodly distance and paying £15 or so for fifteen heats of racing. Back during the seventies and eighties a meeting often had twenty heats including a second half which I used to enjoy!

Sid I think that the Ole/Hans thing went back many years. Infact Bobby Schwartz made a comment in the latest "Backtrack" issue during a World Pairs Final when Hans went against Ole's instructions. Trouble was that Ole was strong willed and would often impose that on other riders but Hans like Bo Petersen were their own men and didn't go along with it. Remember reading that when Ole and Ivan would share a plane together Ole would remark being 'done again' by Nielsen. Essentially I felt that Olsen felt that his position was being challenged as the 'Main Dane' and those he couldn't mind control upset his ego! And, yes, the fact that he turned a move down to Cowley upset a few but not me as it brought the majestic Dag Lovaas to Oxford instead!

Per was an inspirational signing for Oxford making a good side into a great one!

Personally I don't think it would get thru' noise restrictions? Cars tend to be much louder than bikes.

I recall seeing Hans as a seventeen year old riding for Wolves at White City (think he scored 7 or 8?) and it was obvious he was going to make it in the British League but who would imagine then how he would go on to dominate things as much as he did? Remember one classic race at Swindon when Hans was a "Brummie" and he and Phil Crump passed and re-passed each other many times over the four laps...great stuff! Personally I felt that Martin Dugard could have gone further in the sport and I think moving back to Eastbourne was a mistake. Similar with Gordon Kennett who I felt should have moved to Swindon after the closure of White City? Or "ifs and buts".

People ask me what did I find different working in a University Department for 17 years and how it evolved? Put simply when I first started the group that I worked with would swap ideas seeking advice amongst themselves as regards their particular line of work/research...lots of banter. At the end of my career (albeit working with different people) the emphasis had changed dramatically. Computers had really taken hold and although some conversations took place the office had become much more quiet with people staring into computers with much less interaction taking place.

We used to have some great tussles with the "Witches" none more so than the 1985 Knock Out Cup Final second leg at Cowley...probably one of the greatest nights ever at Oxford!

Unfortunately I never went to the speedway during the sixties which is to my eternal regret as the track was just round the corner from where we live and I would have been old enough to have attended. However the seventies were great years and during my teenage years speedway was all that I was interested in as I soon preferred it to football. Thursday nights at Cowley were magical and my early heroes were Garry Middleton, Oyvind S.Berg, the Lovaas Brothers and Gordon Kennett. Dag was the master of the adverse camber on the pits bend at Cowley with his majestic swoops and who could forget Gordon's white line riding when battling from the back. Great memories!

Unfortunately I have to agree with those sentiments. Always amazes me when we go out for a meal and couples aren't engaging with each other instead both looking into their phone devices (at what goodness knows?) as society seems hell bent on succumbing to technological gizmos which often requires a solitary existance rather than socially mixing and interacting. Very rarely on the bus I talk to anyone (pre-covid) as they're all staring into their devices same as in the staff room where I work. Okay the world has strunk but at what cost?

Suffered a recent heart attack and had a stroke a couple of years ago which has stretched his finances to the limit and can't afford the physio required as treatmet is private in Australia. Story was covered in the recent "Backtrack" magazine.

You beat me to it! Sad news indeed and I would also like to congratulate Tony Mac for his initiative. A worthy cause. I recall on my first visit to Arlington in 1972 watching Allen achieve a sublime 12 point maximum beating all that the "Eagles" could throw at him. Considering that included the likes of Malcolm Ballard, Gordon Kennett, Bobby McNeil and Roger Johns that was some feat! Great memories!

I would travel from Oxford every week following the "Rebels" after their re-location form Cowley. I got to see the best of both worlds. British League action at Wood Lane and National League at Cowley...great days!

Would be interesting to know? We had a Tony Brooklister ride at Cowley once...turned out to be Colin Meredith incognito!