BOBBATH

Irecall seeing Hasse at his best for Wolves-also made the World Final I think.

Reviewing all these posts which are v. interesting-I still have to ask what are Philip Rising and Paul Parish up to-I am sure they really existed(unlike me)

Fatherjack, visited the bar many times-as I recall you had to join the Newport County supporters club to get in-you got a little amber colored booklet-we used to go there after the speedway league match ended and before second half-it was packed-this would be 64 -67.Many a pint of Whitbread Trophy was consumed there!!

Follow up to previous note-Vic White says Plunkett(Geoff Penniket) is still with us-a great favorite at Newport as indeed was Vic!!

Thanx Graham-no I am not from Poole(didn't pass the medical).Grew up in Cardiff -supported Newport 64-68, moved to Nottingham and supported Long Eaton 65-67, and Leicester 68-then became part of the British diaspora and emigrated-visited Poole on a few occasions tho-wonderful track and atmosphere-I recall the colored lights over the track.First visit to Poole was WC British Semi-Final in 65.Great meeting where Gordon Guasco upset Barry Briggs in his first ride-great meeting indeed-I am looking at the program now-it was July 28th 1965.I'd hitch hiked down from Long Eaton with Ian Terrar(later Newport second halfer),(Newport were at Long Eaton the previous evening and had won 32-46) a speedway fan (who was at the LE meeting) from London gave us a lift to London I recall-can't remember his name but he was at 64 WF in Sweden and was in the picture of the crowd in the SS, wearing a white raincoat(like the sort the guy in the ads for Strand cigarettes wore on TV) does anybody in forumland know the guy??I owe him a beer! Didn't think of how to get home of course. So Ian and I went to the railway station waiting room to try and sleep overnite-there were 3 speedway fans from Newcastle there-(who unlike us had train fare home)-had a good chat to them-are any of them on forumland??. Ian and I got kicked out eventually when the station closed, wandered the streets found an empty house and bunked down there like a couple of tramps-very cold.The things we did for speedway eh!!Thanx also for your stats on 62/63 Graham.

Fatherjack -where was Jack's Bar located , and is Jon Erskine still with us?

fatherjack you are correct that Cyril was instrumental in bringing Somerton Park to Bill Bridgett's and Mike Parker's attention as a possible venue befor it opened in 64..

Thanx bostonfive-glad Dennis is ok-you also said"not so for most of the others" you talked with Len about-can you add further details as I recall most of the 62/63 gang.

I reckon Poole have never raced against Fleetwood or Walthamstow-they would all have overlapped seasons but were in different divisions from Poole-what do others think??

Thanx cityrebel and wish Cyril all the best from me-a great guy.

It was great to read this-I recall Cyril well from his Wolves/Wasps days-a real nice gentleman.How old would Cyril be now? Still lives in Newport I guess, wish I could have listened in on the conversation-anything you could share with us-riders he liked/disliked etc-in particular did he mention anything about Ivor Brown?I mean its all so long ago now. If you see Cyril again mention this British expat in Canada remembers him with affection and thank him for the memories he's given us all.

No -so could it be Harry Bastable??

Yes I think you are right re date of death -March 59

Was that because Ted wasn't that good then??I recall him at Newport in I guess 66 or 67.

Sorry Tony -I was looking at a team picture where you can see their faces-beg pardon.

Come on tell us-who was the rider-it can't be Ivor Brown cos he lived in Wymeswold-I guess it was a visiting rider!!

Tony,In the 72 Cradley picture Roy Trigg is definitely the guy standing on the left

Hi BFD-thanx for bringing this topic forward.I can confirm with the others that it was associated with the Prov League but it survived for at least the first two years of the BL-65 and 66 but perhaps longer.I have the British Speedway Handbooks for 1966 and 1967(covering the seasons 65 and 66).The last Silver Sash race for 65 was at Wolves on Oct 22nd when Colin Pratt defeated Tommy Sweetman..the last one in 66 when Briggo beat Peter Vandenberg also at Wolves. Perhaps someone will know whether the SS survived beyond 1966. Interestingly the 1967 hand book shows past winners starting in 1955 and going thru to 1960(with the exception of 1958).From the list of winners it looks like it was a SAL competition-first winner shown in 1955 is Eric Croft-other familiar names are Colin Gooddy,Jim Gleed, Jimmy Heard, Leo McAuliffe.Last holder in 1959 before PL was Dave Hankins. As Nigel posted the first winner in 1960 was Reg Reeves. The last PL holder was Ivan. The first British League defence should have been at Wolves at the start of the 65 season when Newcastle were the visitors.Ivan Mauger had already been injured and couldn't ride so the title went to Pete Jarman by default as the top Wolves scorer that night. The way it worked was the SS holder defended his title against the leading scorer of the opposition in (I think) the next League meeting-thus it was the first race of the second half that night.It was a simple system-these races always added to the fun of the night-pity they got rid of it. BTW the longest holder in the first season of the BL was Ken Mckinlay with 8 successful defences and next Eric Boocock with 7. Following this post I would like to be declared the honorary Canadian anorak of this message board!!!!!!!!

How old was Bob??-rode for Norwich and made a World Final I think

I recall the lighting-not floodlights but they were like strings of lightbulbs over the track-is that right or is my memory failing me

Thanx Roger-have a good trip to UK but hope to see you at Paris sometime.

The New X Russ Conway tune might have been called "Side Saddle" listen to it on youtube and check it out Jim

I have many great memories of Custom House=the lights over the track-much better atmosphere than floodlights- the British Final(rerun) 1965, a GB vs. Poland test in 1966-as I recall Colin Pratt was top scorer for England.British Final 1967 where Rick France amazingly got thru to the World Final but Terry Betts didn't.Also my last ever WH meeting on Aug 6th in 1968-before I emigrated from UK following Saturday(Aug 10th).It was the Nordic -British Final and Barry Briggs was eliminated big upset.Rainy night as I recall. In 2006- on a visit to UK-I caught the underground to Plaistow and walked down my usual route to where the old stadium was(Greengate Lane etc) for old times sake.Believe me this was not the East End I remembered, I got on the LRT just past the stadium site and was glad to get back to Central London.It was in the evening and to be frank I felt like an alien.The UK I recall has disappeared.

Hey Ron, what years was the Gazette published-I have read old copies of the News before it merged with the Star and that was written in an extremely literate way-contained words of more than one syllable even-today's Star sems like junk to me and I can't read it yecch!! It seems to be aimed at the semi literate-perhaps a comment on modern British education!!

Back on topic-remember other local reporters like Frank Drake(Exeter reports), Peter Morrish(Midlands) Howard Jacobi(Midlands)-were these people all real-??also I think there was a real Dave Stevens but what about Danny Carter(Gossip 'n Gas)-??also I always liked the way they would put obviously made up comments as being spoken by the riders-Dave Lanning often did this, also the way Swedish riders were quoted in a sort of pidgin English.(Probably other "alsos" also!!!!!!!!!!)