BOBBATH

Sorry for confusion-he went to school in Wolverhampton-did not realise he was born in Cardiff(like me actually!!!)

Howard was born in the Midlands-Wolverhampton I think-didn't he ride for CH after LE and later again King's Lynn?

Thanx all:oddf-would like to be there, but the the bus service to Toronto was cut off last year!!

Anybody know when Jack was born so how old he was when he died?? As Brian Hamilton said this all took place 46 years ago but seems like yesterday. To put 46 years in perspective that is like us being at the track in 1962 and hearing guys talk about the Somme in 1916-it would have seemed unbelievably far in the past-some of us must be getting old and that is why it is important to keep these memories alive....

Re Briggo/Gresham which I recall reading about-which track did that occur at-also Gresham was a tough guy-did he knock out Briggo-or were they separated and it was a tie on points!!

Thanx for everyone's comments.Couple of questions-I reckon Jack Unstead had been transferred to Exeter in the PL-so how come he was riding for Ipswich that fateful night-also,in Peter Morrish' excellent book"British Speedway Leagues 1946-64"-,Jack does not show up as an Ipswich scorer in 1962-even if he made one appearance and scored nothing -he probably should have showed up as having scored zero.So ...did Jack die in his first ride in the first Ipswich NL League match of that year, and did he ever appear for Exeter at all that year.Also OddF who made the comment you alluded to??-everyone is dead now so what does it matter-my guess it was Alby !! What's the answer??(Your secret is safe in forumland!!!)

Starghost do you recall the date of the meeting as weren't there a few Oxford- Norwich meetings that season-NL, Britannia Shield? etc-and didn't teams meet twice home and twice away in the NL at that time.??

Re previous post-good for Pete Munday-re Brian Hamilton post-I recall also Colin(Joe) Goody as a tough guy -gave no quarter-but the nicest guy you could meet off the track.I remember him mainly at Exeter-he was one of the NL guys who in 65 was posted to an ex PL track-along with Genz to Poole.I think you must be an ex Oxford supporter so will recall the wonderful Cheetahs team of 1964 who cleaned up the NL. Let me think here : I reckon the 64 Cham[pionship winning team was How, Genz, Gooch,Pander,Goody, Eddie Reeves and Bishop in no particular order -does that sound right to you??

HalifaxTiger/Paulco are you talking about the new Newport or the old one(Somerton Park) I'm talking about the old one-P.S. to Railway end -don't recall the smell you mentioned-but the street I recall in Hackney was Carpenters Rd., the street of a thousand smells.Cradley is still top in my book-as someone said a real speedway stadium in a real speedway area and real dedicated speedway fans!!

I should have mentioned Leicester also-I still think Speedway at night was the most evocative-Sheffield stadium when lit up was beautiful, the lights on the shale etc etc.There was a pub right near Leicester stadium, going from Blacbird Rd I think you went up a little hill, all residential streets and there was a pub a block or so before the main front entrance-anyone remember that? Glad to see CH got a few mentions from others.By the way speaking of smells-there was a street of nasty smells on the way to Hackney-slaughterhouses or something-anyone recall the name of that street??

I always recall Bill Andrew and Peter vandenberg going at it in a Newport v Poole match in 65(Wasps won 41-37)

I recall Tim mainly as an Exeter rider, but in 1966-I think-he was transferred to Newport.I recall being at Long Eaton when Newport were there and talking to Geoff Penniket who told me on the previous weekend Tim had a bad crash.What happened after that-and did Tim ride for other trax besides Exeter and Newport.Is he still around?A nice guy.

English I think

BrianH -think it was in a track speedcar crash that Gerry Hussey died. Graham Warren- I think-but stand to be corrected- was that he was on his way to win the 1950 World Final, won 2 rides, fell while trying to pass eventual winner Fred Williams(who had home track advantage) then came back and won his remaining two.He finished third-then at some point he had an accident which I reckon knocked the stuffing out of him and was never the same againand that's why I brought his name forward.

This sounds great-wish I could go -any chance of pictures being taken and posted-it would be great to see the former riders as they are today.Hope everyone has a good time. (P.S. to Norbold can you go and measure the height of the riders to see if anyone there is taller than Graham Miles!!!)

Remember James Bond of Wolves in the mid-sixties-whatever happened to Jimmy??

That's right I'd forgotten that Jim married Howard's sister-are they still married-does Howard visit very often from -where is he now Aussie or-he became a teacher I think.

Whatever happened to Wayne-great PL rider-came 2nd I think in 1963 PL RC-is he still around??

yes yes-its almost as bad as disputing that Graham Miles was not the tallest ever speedway rider!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This gives me another thought how is John Hart??-thought that he had passed awa, but must be getting mixed up with Jack Kitchen.John H rode for Cradley H. was he also with Sheffield for a time??. P.S. to Brian Hamilton-for shame for shame,Brian, everybody but everybody knows Kid Bodie was Howard Cole!!!!!Keep smilin' everyone in forumland.

I agree with you starghost-after I did my post I thought of Billy Bales.

Yes that was Ray's trade mark-as you probably recall he got somewhat portly towards the end of his career!!.

Do you think Les Owen of Coventry figures in this list-"Muscles "was doing well in 62-63 then he had a terrible smash up.Wondered if this in fact affected him in later life and contributed to his tragic death.

Was interested to see the name Tony George-I saw him ride as ,I think ,reserve for Exeter at Swindon in BL in 1968-the last meeting I saw at Swindon before I emigrated.He looked really promising-didn't he then ride for Plymouth in Div 2-sort of lost track of him after that-didn't even know he had an accident-when was that then??

To me the three champions of this thread must be 1)Torbjorn Harrysson-should have been World Champion 2) Arne Pander 3)Sverre Harrfeldt-I know these guys had great careers but I reckon they would have done even more-and while I'm on the subject -farther back -what about Graham Warren?? Yet again Norman Hunter who I thought was just about to achieve his potential in 1969.Thanx for making me think of this my Illinois friend!!