steve roberts 9,246 Posted April 11, 2023 2 hours ago, oleoleole said: Like all speedway fans I’ve experienced quite a few “rain-offs”. I’ve been to about 15 continental SGP’s and managed to cop all the postponed/abandoned ones; Gothenburg, Gelsenkirchen, Riga and Warsaw. Also Berlin which was a complete farce! I also experienced the first ever England international football match to be postponed at Wembley! England v Bulgaria (21st November 1979). From Rugby on a coach with my local football club. We got all the way to the Wembley car park only to be told that it was off due to fog! We then spent hours trying to get back out of the car park. Never got off the coach! I’ve read since that Kevin Keegan missed the replay the following day because he had to be back in Hamburg …. and no we didn’t go back down for the replay. ...could have been scripted from that famous episode of "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?" 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Downes 48 Posted April 11, 2023 2 hours ago, steve roberts said: ...could have been scripted from that famous episode of "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?" England F ..........! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 5,017 Posted April 12, 2023 16 hours ago, oleoleole said: Like all speedway fans I’ve experienced quite a few “rain-offs”. I’ve been to about 15 continental SGP’s and managed to cop all the postponed/abandoned ones; Gothenburg, Gelsenkirchen, Riga and Warsaw. Also Berlin which was a complete farce! I also experienced the first ever England international football match to be postponed at Wembley! England v Bulgaria (21st November 1979). From Rugby on a coach with my local football club. We got all the way to the Wembley car park only to be told that it was off due to fog! We then spent hours trying to get back out of the car park. Never got off the coach! I’ve read since that Kevin Keegan missed the replay the following day because he had to be back in Hamburg …. and no we didn’t go back down for the replay. Can you let me know which SGP's you'll be going to in the future? I'll give them a miss 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arnieg 3,643 Posted April 12, 2023 16 hours ago, oleoleole said: Like all speedway fans I’ve experienced quite a few “rain-offs”. I’ve been to about 15 continental SGP’s and managed to cop all the postponed/abandoned ones; Gothenburg, Gelsenkirchen, Riga and Warsaw. Also Berlin which was a complete farce! I also experienced the first ever England international football match to be postponed at Wembley! England v Bulgaria (21st November 1979). From Rugby on a coach with my local football club. We got all the way to the Wembley car park only to be told that it was off due to fog! We then spent hours trying to get back out of the car park. Never got off the coach! I’ve read since that Kevin Keegan missed the replay the following day because he had to be back in Hamburg …. and no we didn’t go back down for the replay. That's quite an "achievement" to have taken in all of the SGPs "finest hours". Maybe you should stick to Cardiff? ... then on second thoughts Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oleoleole 227 Posted April 12, 2023 1 hour ago, arnieg said: That's quite an "achievement" to have taken in all of the SGPs "finest hours". Maybe you should stick to Cardiff? ... then on second thoughts Warsaw was the final straw! No more SGP’s for me, not even Cardiff even though we’d been to all of them up to that point. However we did go to Toruń in 2019. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
old bob at herne bay 828 Posted April 12, 2023 England vs USA Test Match of Foxhole Stadium Ipswich. Exact year eludes me now - but on a warm sunny Thursday afternoon I set off for Foxhole on my trusty Honda CB400/4 from sunny Herne Bay in great expectation of a fascinating test match against a USA side including my Arena Essex favourite Josh Larsen. Arriving early in Ipswich I called at a local foxhall newsagent to get some sweets. By chance I noticed the headline on the bundle of local papers that had just been dumped on the counter. Test Match Off ! My heart sank - here i was in bright warm sunshine staring at a scarcely believable headline. USA couldn't raise a team.... apparently . Fine time to tell everyone 2 hours before the start of the meeting ? Rode tot he track and yup not a soul there. Sunny ride home on the bike - cursing Ipswich speedway under my breath the whole way home. Wrote a letter of complaint to Ipswich Speedway - and guess what I am still waiting for a reply from John Louis or anyone associated with the fiasco. Promised myself never to go to Ipswich Speedway again .... and never have gone near the place nor will I ever again. . 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SPEEDY69 1,260 Posted April 12, 2023 (edited) My worst rain-off experience was in 1990 travelling from Ipswich to Reading on a Monday night. I had persuaded my Dad to join me in riding to Reading on our motorcycles, which was an effort considering he only rode in the dry and local journeys only. Having left work and rushed home, checked the meeting was on and the weather forecast seemed fine, I called for Dad and we set off in the sunshine. When we were about 90 miles into the journey and on the M25 it started light rain but darker clouds were ahead. The rain stopped and we pulled off the M25 for a chat - Dad said he was going to turn back if it rained again but we set off again towards Reading when it did start raining again. It was only light so I carried on all the way to Smallmead where it was chucking it down and the meeting was called off (about 7pm). I then had the 2.5 hour journey back in absolute heavy rain, waterproofs leaked at the crotch after a time and my legs, feet, arms and face/neck were soaked and so cold I struggled to move by the time I got home, with a filthy bike to boot! I passed Dad on the way back, on the A12, as he was doing about 40mph due to reduced visibility - I was maxing out at 60mph, visor up. We never went to another meeting together on our bikes although I did on my own. Edited April 12, 2023 by SPEEDY69 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 5,017 Posted April 13, 2023 15 hours ago, SPEEDY69 said: My worst rain-off experience was in 1990 travelling from Ipswich to Reading on a Monday night. I had persuaded my Dad to join me in riding to Reading on our motorcycles, which was an effort considering he only rode in the dry and local journeys only. Having left work and rushed home, checked the meeting was on and the weather forecast seemed fine, I called for Dad and we set off in the sunshine. When we were about 90 miles into the journey and on the M25 it started light rain but darker clouds were ahead. The rain stopped and we pulled off the M25 for a chat - Dad said he was going to turn back if it rained again but we set off again towards Reading when it did start raining again. It was only light so I carried on all the way to Smallmead where it was chucking it down and the meeting was called off (about 7pm). I then had the 2.5 hour journey back in absolute heavy rain, waterproofs leaked at the crotch after a time and my legs, feet, arms and face/neck were soaked and so cold I struggled to move by the time I got home, with a filthy bike to boot! I passed Dad on the way back, on the A12, as he was doing about 40mph due to reduced visibility - I was maxing out at 60mph, visor up. We never went to another meeting together on our bikes although I did on my own. And the moral of that story... get a car 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SPEEDY69 1,260 Posted April 13, 2023 3 hours ago, iainb said: And the moral of that story... get a car I didn't have one in those days and rode everywhere. Bradford and back in a day was the longest journey to speedway for me, 4 hours each way. Always been a biker but got a car when I got a wife 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
