britmet

Send them to the Speedway Museum at Paradise Park. They sell off progs & mags to help fund the place. Peter Sampson - Director Paradise Wildlife Park White Stubbs Lane, Broxbourne, Herts. EN10 7QA peter@pwpark.com Telephone: 01992 470490 ext 230 Fax: 01992 440525

It was to be hoped that the myths that existed about these Paris meetings before internet research of the last 10 years or so clarified the situation would have been eliminated, but apparently not so. Promoted by an Anglo-French consortium, the Paris championships ended in 1935 when the Wembley event was organised for '36 and replaced it. Schneeweiss's 'claim-to-fame' championship of 1937 was the European Championship, (staged in Prague.) The 1934 Paris World Championship programme made clear that its 1933 World Champ was Fernand Meynier., (scans of this have been posted on several websites in recent past years incl'g OTS,) also thus debunking the names given above prior to that meeting other than Lamont, - the '31 Champ - , and Wilkinson, - the '32 Champ, the first two. There was no World Chmpshp in '29 & '30. Many big-name meetings were regularly held in Paris, (incl'g European Championships staged there in '32-'34 inclusive, the winners being Meynier, 3x, and Bellisent, in '34,) for which the above listed names may well have been the winners - , but of the list, only Lamont (in '31) and Wilkinson could claim the World title.

..... (Prompt report from FIM for a change. Last place I'd expect to look at this early hour.) What a close finish, - 2 pts between the top 4 teams. The first time Germany have been knocked off the top spot. Well done boys. . And how pleased must Mitch Godden have been to collect the trophy named after his father ! .

. Where can we see the scores?

. All up-to-date Bronze Helmet winners, - and past Gold and Silver Helmet and Sash winners - , can be found on the 'British Match Race Champions' page of the Speedway Champions website.

"Do averages tell us the full story?" A man has his feet in 2 bowls of water, the average temperature of which is 50 deg.C. According to the average he should be pleasantly content, BUT . . . one bowl is full of boiling water at 100 C. , . . . the other is full of iced water at 0 deg.C. In reality he's in extreme pain from both feet ! Answer to the question? - You decide. .

There is no such rule !

Who is this Zach Watzizname? Looked very impressive. . Not just a British 250 speedway champ but a former 2x World Champ, - i.e. "FIM Youth Gold Cup" winner - , in the 125 Grass Track class, see HERE. .

. . . . . . . . thanks to your find ! Well done.

. This has now been confirmed to be the Buffalo Stadium, Paris by a college on the continent who's done a lot of professional research, of archived (hard copy) pre-war newsprint and of cine film. Amongst items unearthed have been results of the European Championships (1932 - '35), at Buffalo Stadium, which supplemented the World Championships (1931- '35) that were held there in the early days of Dirt Track racing. The rider with the broad smile at the end of the film is thought likely to be American Ray Tauser, - Any one have a view? Tauser was Runner-up in the first Paris World Championship of 1931, so could this film be of the first ever World Championship held in Europe? Dirt Track meetings at this velodrome, which also staged cycle races, football, rugby league and boxing matches, were, within a season, limited, and only in '32 did the promotion add the European championship, so making it seem more probable that this is indeed the 1931 Final. And such an occasion could explain why a film crew decided to turn up at the Buffalo Stadium that day and record the race meeting: this cine film is a significant find. . p.s: Just taken another look at the film, . . and note the 3 riders/heat format, which accords with the World Chmpshp format known from the printed programme of a later year to have been used, as opposed to the 4 riders/heat for local French riders in the supplementary event on the same programme. .

What's the track size ?

. If you've seen the s/show of the Heathens of the '60s ( photos I'd kept for 50 years,) then here now are some more from the collection, . . . . the opposition riders, more speedway riders of the sixties , - riders from the Nat'l Lge, Prov'l Lge and early days of the British Lge. (Click for full screen.) .

. and no, you didn't have a senior moment. Yes, there are some more shots now included that weren't there on first posting, . '60s Heathens .

The superstition of green being unlucky pre-dates speedway. My parents and grandparents would often drop it out in passing comment about someone's clothes that, just like walking under a ladder, they were asking for bad luck wearing green. .

I was with George Major in '71 when he finally got a Jawa, one of the last to switch. He fitted it with the cow-horns from his JAP, and from being the Brummies top scorer he struggled with it for several mtgs. When we re-fitted the straighter bars that came with the Jawa he was back to his old form! In this age of multi-guests and doubling up, perhaps someone ought to explain to today's younger speedway followers what being 'cup-tied' meant, (v/v the note on the signing of Stan Stevens in '61.) And would they believe it? .

Best not to use that list (above) and perpetuate the omission, From the following we get :- GB 10; SW 4; AU 3; 1 each NZ, SA. 1. Cyril Roger - 93 - born 27.12.1921 GB 2. Split Waterman - 91 (27.7.1923) GB 3. Arthur Payne - 90 (30.8.1924) AU 4. Dick Bradley - 90 (28.11.1924) GB 5. Fred Brand - 89 (3.2.1925) GB 6. Chum Taylor - 87 (4.4.1927) AU 7. Eric Boothroyd - 87 (26.4.1927) GB 8. Derick Close - 87 (13.5.1927) GB 9. Henry Long – 87 (26.7.1927) SA 10. Geoff Mardon - 87 (24.11.1927) NZ 11. Billy Bales - 85 (6.6.1929) GB 12. Olle Nygren - 85 (11.11.1929) SW 13. Rune Sormander - 85 (29.11.1929) SW 14. Jack Geran - 85 (10.12.1989) AU 15. Bryan Elliott - 84 (12.4.1930) GB 16. George White - 83 (24.5.1931) GB 17. Ian Williams - 83 (4.8.1931) GB 18. Per Tage Svensson - 83 (16.10.1931) SW 19. Peo Soederman - 82 (29.10.1932) SW

. A slide-show of practically every Heathens rider during the course of the Provincial Lge and the first years of the British Lge, - from Eric Eadon to Bernt Persson. '60s Heathens Action, portrait & team shots, Click to enlarge to full screen. .

. Those were the days of the Iron Curtain, so with the exception of mtgs like the Czech Golden Helmet there was no way riders could flip into communist countries every other Sunday. And although British grass & speedway riders were invited to the exceptional big mtgs, after 1971 East Germany (at least) stopped inviting Westerners in a political retalitary move. .

. Look again at the BBC page link, - - Monday 13th March 1967, on the Home Service, ( at 13:10hrs.) .

. Just found and trawled thru this topic before I entered my answer as to why. Then came to this post (quoted above,) which cracks it. Indeed, after the track was shortened to have the speedway bends inside the stox bends, (because of surface damage they created,) but still with common straights, it was felt that the run to the first bend was too short, so to lengthen it without loosing the run to the line on the last lap, the start and the finish were separated. What happened in later decades, v/v FIM req'ts I can't speak on, as I was only an inactive follower at that period.

Treloar & Cox did it again to win Rd.3 and take the title. M.Plaisted & B.Anthony second with M. & J. Headland third. .

. What's the dates of the next 2 rounds ? .

. Agreed, Best thing they could do, - other than restrict riders to one country/league. That'd be an even better solution ! .

. Both are correct if we translate their terminology as used in the countries where its raced: in Sweden it's Isracing; in mainland Europe it's Eisspeedway and Ijsspeedway. But here's the definitive, in FIM's own nomenclature: - http://www.fim-live.com/en/article/motul-fim-ice-speedway-gladiators-change-of-date/ .

. Not so, - Its the duty of the Starting marshall and his team, - which used to be one per gate, and as the track was racked so was the gate evened out and levelled. Riders are not responsible for track preparation/condition !