Which British League Two/National League Team Produced The Most Riders For British League One?

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

15 hours ago, steve roberts said:

Alan was one of those dependable riders that speedway so desperately needs.

Unofficially in Alan's amazing career he rode in over 500 meetings a record to be proud of.It would be interesting to see how many meeting's both the Boocock brothers rode in,, Ashby, McKinley, Street all those guys did some meetings.

[steve roberts 9,246]

2 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Unofficially in Alan's amazing career he rode in over 500 meetings a record to be proud of.It would be interesting to see how many meeting's both the Boocock brothers rode in,, Ashby, McKinley, Street all those guys did some meetings.

...and Jimmy Squibb!

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

15 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

...and Jimmy Squibb!

Jimmy did well over 300 meeting's from 1965 - 1975 and his career spanned from 1947-75  a great servant.

[steve roberts 9,246]

1 hour ago, Sidney the robin said:

Jimmy did well over 300 meeting's from 1965 - 1975 and his career spanned from 1947-75  a great servant.

...and he was an ever present during many of those also.

[steve roberts 9,246]

Exeter - Martin Hewlett

Ellesmere Port - Neil Collins

[chunky 6,092]

Kings Lynn/Boston - Arthur Price and Carl Glover.

I know Price had a handful of rides for Nelson and Crayford first, but he didn't do anything until he went to Lynn.

Barrow - Craig Pendlebury and Keith Evans.

Coatbridge - Mick McKeon.

Edited April 28, 2020 by chunky

[steve roberts 9,246]

2 hours ago, chunky said:

Kings Lynn/Boston - Arthur Price and Carl Glover.

I know Price had a handful of rides for Nelson and Crayford first, but he didn't do anything until he went to Lynn.

Barrow - Craig Pendlebury and Keith Evans.

Coatbridge - Mick McKeon.

Up until now I hadn't included in my lists any Anzacs but there are many that spring to mind...Gary Petersen (Nelson), Phil Crump (Crewe), Bob Valentine (Workington), Lou Sansom, (Workington) amongst many others I could mention.

Good call on Arthur Price. I also had him down as King's Lynn/Boston but had forgotten about his previous clubs.

Edited April 28, 2020 by steve roberts

[chunky 6,092]

Another for Ellesmere Port - Nicky Allott

[steve roberts 9,246]

Scunthorpe - Rod Haynes

Rochdale - Ian Hindle, Mitch Graham, Robbie Gardner

Sunderland - Dave Gatenby

[M.D 463]

For Eastbourne, the following riders have been missed out:

Dean Barker

David Norris

Dean Standing

Paul Dugard

[steve roberts 9,246]

14 minutes ago, M.D said:

For Eastbourne, the following riders have been missed out:

Dean Barker

David Norris

Dean Standing

Paul Dugard

"The Eagles" must take some beating as their record for producing fine young British talent is second to none...and as they were the 'sister' team of both my tracks (Oxford & White City) I got to see many of those riders over the years including watching them in the sorely missed second halves which was another avenue for riders to ply their trade and aid development.

Edited April 29, 2020 by steve roberts

[M.D 463]

20 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

"The Eagles" must take some beating as their record for producing fine young British talent is second to none...and as they were the 'sister' team of both my tracks (Oxford & White City) I got to see many of those riders over the years including watching them in the sorely missed second halves which was another avenue for riders to ply their trade and aid development.

Part of this in the latter years especially,  must go down to the fact that The Dugard family own the stadium and could build a junior track and practise pretty much when they wanted. Many riders that didn't start thier careers at Eastbourne, riders like Mark Loram, took advantage of the facility's, sadly its a luxury  not many British clubs have..

Edited April 29, 2020 by M.D

[M.D 463]

I would also like to point out that in the early years at Eastbourne we had the late Arthur Nutley who took I keen interest in the junior grass track scene in Kent, extremely vibrant in those days. He found the likes of Dave Jessup, the Kennett's, Roger Johns Paul Woods to name but a few. Eastbourne could offer good training facilities on the main track and this tempted a lot of riders to join the Eagles.

When Martin and Paul Dugard came along, Bob Dugard built the junior track and Peter Johns built scaled down bikes for them with smaller engines and the Eastbourne schoolboys club was born. This gave many riders lots of track time moving up to 500's and then onto the Senior Circuit.

In both cases, whether it was junior grass track or junior speedway, by the time the kids got to the age of 16 they all had many years experience of riding/racing so a lot hit the ground running.

This shows the importance of a vibrant youth system for kids to move up into a professional sport, something the swedes and poles latched onto years ago while we have slipped down a bit but as I previously said, a lot of this goes down to owning the stadium. The poles and Swedes have this luxury too.

Edited April 29, 2020 by M.D

[chunky 6,092]

6 hours ago, steve roberts said:

Scunthorpe - Rod Haynes

Rochdale - Ian Hindle, Mitch Graham, Robbie Gardner

Sunderland - Dave Gatenby

Mitch Graham at Rochdale? He's already been listed under Worky, anyway...

[steve roberts 9,246]

32 minutes ago, chunky said:

Mitch Graham at Rochdale? He's already been listed under Worky, anyway...

Yes...my memory as I say...but I did check and he made an appearance for Rochdale (I think he was a Belle Vue asset), as did Craig Pendlebury (who re-appeared two years later at Barrow), before making a name for himself at Workington.

Edited April 29, 2020 by steve roberts