BOBBATH

Hi asturmer, next time you see Colin tell him I well recall him riding for both Edinburgh and Hackney at Newport-always could be relied on to put on a good show on what was not the best track for visiting riders-buy him a coffee from me and give him my regards from Toronto.

Yes I can well believe Newport were top of the table and they would have stayed there if they had got a replacement for Dick Bradley-they really had four heat leaders until that time. BTW they lost those two Scottish matches-I recall the Supporters Club running coaches up there to see them on successive nights.

Just came across this-thanx Merlin(if you are still on the forum)-for your description af a great event-and also the road trips before motorways.

I seem to recall Tom riding at Long Eaton in mid sixties but can't recall who for.

Is Tom Leadbitter still alive??

Amazingly I was there at the 1968 Swindon v Exeter meeting that Keef mentioned(hi Keef aren't you the guy who owes me a beer)-strangely enough I recall Tony George who I think was Exeter reserve at that meeting-I thought he would become a superstar but it never worked out. I also recall Jimmy Squibb for Exeter who at that time would have been 47 what a rider-will have to dig out my program out.Wait a minute have just done so-this was 15th June 68 and neither Briggs nor Ashby were riding.It was 50-28 for Robins-have you got wrong year Keef?Top scorer for Swindon was Kilby with 12 pts. max-top scorer for Exeter was Street with 9. In program notes it mentioned that both Briggs and Ashby were absent-perhaps you are thinking of 1969??Sorry to be a nerd -or as you Brits would say"anorak"- about this!!!!!!!!

R.I.P Eric-another great one passes over. Thanks to you and Eric we have the wonderful series covering his memories of growing up in Wales and of his illustrious career which I have saved and refer back too frequently. All the best Ross and God Bless Eric.

Tony is the Colindale newspaper library still open in England-or archives anywhere??

Anyone know how Tommy is-does he still run his chain of hairdressing salons. In my view he was a stalwart part of the 1966 Halifax double winning team. I recall him riding for Sheffield in the PL-but perhaps also BV in late fifties-not sure about that?Always a tough opponent-perhaps Tommy retired too soon?

Yes I recall the debate about Louis Lawson's real name-it seemed like LL was an alias-you wouldn't happen to know would you Norbold???

Great to hear about Jim Yacoby-another rider of the same era and I would say similar in talent was Bill Powell-anyone know how Bill is??

Great posts re Tommy-I didn't realise he kept going until 1971 nor aware of the Genz/Roper trade-another name mentioned in these posts was Jim Yacobi-what is Jim up to now?? I recall him with B.V. in the old NL days and in first years of BL.

I recall getting on the bus in Stratford and going up the street of a thousand smells(Carpenters Rd.)-what was there anyway was it a slaughterhouse!!I recall Hackney hammering Wimbledon 57-21 in 1967, great meeting if you didn't like Wimbledon, also saw a Czech touring team there in the same year.Last visited there in 1972 and think I saw the only ever appearance of an American Timmy Joe Shepherd?? or was that 1975-might have been the latter.

For some reason the stuff about Alan appears as if I am the topic(if I was the topic-it should be entitled"You Too Can End Up Like Me-If You're Not Careful!!!)".Anyway thought Alan deserved a thread titled properly in his name.To Capt. Kidd-you mentioned that your dad is very interested in talking about his time in Speedway. He should know that a lot of people-like me-are very interested in hearing his views.Do you think he would get a kick if we asked questions of him via this message board , that he could answer via you-it would make him realise with what affection he is remembered. For example-I would like to know who he considered his most feared opponent-Ivor Brown at CH perhaps??

This is the opposite of the most travelled riders thread-think this would only apply to riders in the 50's , 60's.,only one I can think of is Les Owen for Coventry-but am not sure. Am I right about "Muscles" and can anyone else think of others-caveat they must have had a career of more than one season.

Bee, scrolling thru' message boards that were posted before I joined forumland(gotta get a life). Anyway am really enjoying your history of the Bees-thought you'd like to know.

Isn't this the ultimate answer for three generations riding!!(no grandmothers involved)!!

How old would Goog have been in the early 60's ,ditto George White??

The thread on Scottish speedway riders got me thinking on this subject-I saw Ken Mckinlay in the early 70's at Oxford-Ken went on too long perhaps(born in1928)-however I also recall Harry Edwards and Howdy Byford going on a bit too long-but all these guys graced the sport in one way or another-bless 'em all.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!

Sounds great -wish I could have been there but Long Eaton will always be " Archers " to me!!Wish the old Pavilion pub was still there tho.

Hi Brianhamilton, thought you'd dropped off the radar there glad you're back-remember your comments on Ronnie Genz well-interesting comments in Classic Speedway by Jimmy Gooch on Ove-also comments on Arne Pander by him -anybody got any comments on Arne being a loner(nothing the matter with that I'm a loner too)??.Worst thing about your post was that you said you were 12 in 1960 makes you younger than me aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!- yet how can that be I was born in 1946 but am only 42-in Canada 60 is the new 40(understand that they will be soon introducing that law in UK also-make ya wait for your pensions!!!)

I really think Ken McKinlay should be #1-longevity, Capt of West Ham in 1965 when they were Champs, several World Finals including 1969 when he was 41, and almost a dark horse winner in 1956-but for a fall he could have done it. No contest-I think the only other World Finalist is JimMcMillan(once as reserve I think).

I thought the same about Eric Liddell-Chariots of Fire-incidentally that Eric Liddell died in China in WW2-he was a missonary-the actor who played him in the movie whose name I have forgotten died also- very young- of AIDS I think-he was a well known gay(not that there's anything wrong with that)!!

Note to andout-hi Roger do you think something like that could be arranged!!