Parsloes 1928 nearly 495 Posted March 21, 2010 Not for the first time my local rag, the Barking & Dagenham Post has re-visited the story of the old Ripple Road track to come up with this, for its really rather impressive local history series: http://www.bdpost.co.uk/content/barkingand...3A53%3A36%3A900 The esteemed Mr. Jacobs gets an honourable mention...: why that geez is almost as good as our norbold (! ) though perhaps without the 'local legend' status around these parts of Dr. Belton.. Far be it from me, whose stock in trade is the hyperbole ( ) , to say...but is it not perhaps somewhat over-stating it to claim, "the Dagenham track was the biggest hotbed of speedway talent in the UK before the war..". Discuss!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DK Rides Again 4 Posted March 22, 2010 (edited) Nice to see Norman getting a mention, but I'm sure that it will come as a great surprise to him that he's a "biking expert" and also that he used to clean Frank Hodgson's bikes, pre war; you're wearing well Norm, I would never have guessed you were that old! I was also interested to read that the Dagenham management either resolved the twin issues of unreliability and 'in flight' refuelling, or invented true perpetual motion, since they apparently rode with "no breaks". Has the 'proof reader' become extinct? Edited March 22, 2010 by DK Rides Again Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
norbold 7,116 Posted March 22, 2010 As a "biking expert"...er..., allow me to answer Parsloes' question. I think Dagenham does indeed have a claim to be recognised as the "biggest hotbed of speedway talent in the UK before the War." Riders of the calibre of Frank Hodgson, Doug Wells, Jim Baylais, Nobby Stock, Malcolm Craven, Alan Smith, Eric French, Dick Harris, Crusty Pye, Aussie Powell, Ernie Pawson, Alex Gray, George Craig, Frank Lawrence and Bill Gilbert all had their grounding at Dagenham. Rye House would be the other claimant to the title but their golden period was probably just after the War, so I wouldn't dismiss Dagenham's claim. It's nice to be quoted as an expert in these matters of course, but I'd rather it was not in an article that also says, "The Dagenham track opened as speedway developed in the UK, four years after it was staged in Epping Forest, having been imported from Australia were it was first staged in 1923." As I said on another thread, aaaaaggggghhhh!!!! Incidentally, Parsloes, did you like your mention in my Speedway Star article!? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyM 1 Posted March 22, 2010 Why does it not still act as a hotbed of talent, though? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
norbold 7,116 Posted March 22, 2010 Why does it not still act as a hotbed of talent, though? Er...maybe because it closed in 1947... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron Butler 0 Posted March 22, 2010 Must have been very gruelling for those early pioneers of our sport. Picture, if you can, the 21st century rider doing sixty laps without breaks. Perhaps it was Norman Norbold-Jacobs and his hairy bikers who declared war on wayward journalists on 1st September 1939. It certainly wasn't Neville Chamberlain he expressed His Majesty's government's disapproval of the actions of Herr Adolf Hitler on the third of the month. Just shows that the Daily Mail isn't the only purveyor of the 'truth' which must be read with a selective attitude! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Parsloes 1928 nearly 495 Posted March 22, 2010 Incidentally, Parsloes, did you like your mention in my Speedway Star article!? Hmm, but a SHOCKING error repeated by you again there norbold... Parsloes Park is most certainly NOT in Ilford..: it's in Dagenham... And, er, always has been...!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
norbold 7,116 Posted March 22, 2010 Hmm, but a SHOCKING error repeated by you again there norbold... Parsloes Park is most certainly NOT in Ilford..: it's in Dagenham... And, er, always has been...!! :oops: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyM 1 Posted March 22, 2010 Er...maybe because it closed in 1947... You could still have lots of youngsters from Dagenham wanting to enter the sport, even if there was no Dagenham speedway for them to learn at!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Parsloes 1928 nearly 495 Posted March 23, 2010 (edited) You could still have lots of youngsters from Dagenham wanting to enter the sport, even if there was no Dagenham speedway for them to learn at!! Well you COULD do.. But sadly not just East London but the WHOLE of greater London has produced hardly ANY riders for years and years now... I think the only three riders currently riding born in the London area (and even then in a couple of cases moved away before pursuing a Speedway career) are James Cockle, Karl Mason and Jon Stevens... Before them there was Ray Morton and reaching the end of his career was Moggo but really I can't recall any other at all recent Londoner riders... Very sad... PS no I'd not forgotten my old mate Cecil Forbes...!! Edited March 24, 2010 by Parsloes 1928 nearly Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lucifer sam 3,953 Posted March 24, 2010 Hmm, but a SHOCKING error repeated by you again there norbold... Parsloes Park is most certainly NOT in Ilford..: it's in Dagenham... And, er, always has been...!! And here's a link to Parsloes Park: http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformatio...loes_Park/7dc4/ Parsloes, it's somehow appropriate that you are named after somewhere in the London Borough of Barking (and Dagenham) All the best Rob Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shadders 4,135 Posted March 25, 2010 I think the only three riders currently riding born in the London area (and even then in a couple of cases moved away before pursuing a Speedway career) are James Cockle, Karl Mason and Jon Stevens... Before them there was Ray Morton and reaching the end of his career was Moggo but really I can't recall any other at all recent Londoner riders... Very sad... Andrew Silver, not officially retired. Dean Barker, only recently retired. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
