britmet

Although he's wearing a Brummie race jacket, the track is Cradley Heath, and the year is 1947, as there was no floodlighting in Dudley Wood's first season. www.speedwaychampions.com

Thats right, - you just saw the heads bobbing up and down on the top bend, over the rough surface. Note that Parker and his team mate have their helmet and colours on, ready for Ht.1. That was the way back then, no returning to the pits, and another 15 mins. delay before the racing started !

Concrete starting grid at Stoke 1953, with Belle Vue, led by Jack Parker, as visitors It looks to be about 4 bikes length, going well beyond the stationery bike position, so that transition isn't abrupt. (Peter craven is 3rd from left, on back row.)

Here he is, on Youtube/BBC video, Olle Ahnstrom, who was 96 when this was recorded in 2016. (Is he still with us ?) . . . . http://www.speedwaychampions.com/ice-champions.php

A sidecar speedway league, the 'British Sidecar Lge', was formed in 1968 comprising the 5 Mike Parker tracks of Wolves, Newport, Newcastle, Nelson and Crayford. Teams comprised 5-man squads and the league ran between June and August as a 2nd-Half event , - many of the September fixtures apparently went uncompleted. I'm still looking for the following match dates and/or results, if anyone with 1968 programmes can oblige: - Result of the Wolves v. Newport match of July 19th (followed the Wolves v. Glasgow solo match.) - Fixture dates & results of any/all 4 Newport home matches, (excl'g the S.Wales v. Midlands challenge match of May 3rd, - result to hand.) - Fixture date & result of Nelson v. Newcastle match. n.b: It's possible the latter were not staged: a programme search that can confirm this would be equally valid. http://www.speedwaychampions.com/sidecar-champions.php

With respect to recent Flat Track posting under several topic titles, on US,(AFT), UK,(DTRA) and European.('World Cup') scene, this page, http://www.speedwaychampions.com/flat-track.php , puts into context the USA Flat Track v/v the British, European and other National F/T, S/T (Short Track), D/T (Dirt Track) and Hooligan scenes, including definitions and annual winners. http://www.speedwaychampions.com/flat-track.php

Yes, Henry long is still around, - heard from him only last month via the family in the Cape, where he now lives. I wont say 'going strong', but at 91 he's holding up well and never complains says his daughter.

You can also look at ice racing on this page, - http://www.speedwaychampions.com/ice-champions.php

Leicester have stepped in to stage the Final round of the ACU British Sidecar Speedway Championship on Oct. 27th after the effects of Storm Callum caused the cancellation of the Belle Vue meeting this w/end, Oct. 13th. This will be the third time that the East Midlands speedway has staged Sidecar racing this season after the initial round of the Championship in May and the successful Team Challenge of last month. . Defending champs Mark Cossar & Carl Blyth lead Paul Whitelam & Alan Elliot by the slenderest of margins, so its going to be 18 heats of close and exciting racing to finish the ACU competition on Saturday October 27th at Beaumont Leys and crown the 2018 British Champion. Admission is £10, - U16s free: Start time is 7:30pm. . http://www.speedwaychampions.com/sidecar-champions.php . .

At the 6th and Final round of the British DTRA Flat Track Championship at Greenfield on Saturday spaniard Gerard Bailo won the Pro Class from Gary Birtwistle and George Pickering. The Thunderbike Class was taken by Westley Agius. . With riders dropping their worse score over the Series, Toby Hales was already in an unassailable position in the PRO's scorechart and took his first Championship win after last season Bronze spot. Bailo was overall second; Birtwistle took the #3 plate. Mike Hill again took the season's Thunderbike #1 plate.

No one's clarified which track they're speaking of, . . . ? The Cornish Stadium finished in the 'sixties, - had an address as Par Moor, while the second circuit, opened in 1997, as the Claycountry Moto Park, was at Longstone Pit, Nr. Panpean. When holidaying down there about 8 - 10 years ago I noted a car-park cum Sunday market site, (Cornish Market World, - ?) east of the town centre, and a 'Speedway Rd.' or some such, which I took to be the original Cornish Stadium location. . The Eden Project is in just one of many china clay pits

My memory of Czech tourists goes back to their first ever visit, as the Red Star Prague team in 1967. On an August Saturday afternoon when the Czechoslovaks were due to meet Cradley Heath Heathens I was riding a few miles away when i came across a car and an estate both with bike-laden trailers parked on the side of the road. The number plates on the Skodas made it obvious who they were, so I stopped and went over to them. Somehow they'd got all 8 riders (one serving as mechanic) plus the team manager and a face I recognised as BSPA secretary Dave Stevens into the 2 vehicles, along with leathers, helmets and kit, etc, for all the riders, plus 8 bikes ! (Possibly statistician Bryan Seery was also in there too, -? Sorry, it was a long time ago.) Admittedly Dave was only of slight build, (Bryan Seery the opposite,) and obviously only joined them once the visitors had reached London after their 800 mile journey across Europe, but even so, traveling conditions for the 9 would have been far from comfortable: what a difference from today's riders in their luxurious Mercedes Sprinter vans! Dudley Wood Stadium had always been notoriously difficult to find, - the SS&N once did a 'True or False' story entitled 'The Track that Disappeared' : - it was true, and based on Dudley Wood! Sure enough, even with Dave Stevens as UK guide, the party was lost. So after a brief chat I had them follow me the couple of miles to the stadium , in plenty of time for the match. I kept in touch with team manager Pavel Kacer for many years afterwards, - as an organiser of the Pardubice Golden Helmet he'd send me the programme each year plus other memorabilia, and I'd reciprocate with things like spark plugs for a family Hillman Minx that they couldn't get a match for behind the Iron Curtain. Cradley Heath was again on the tour programme the following year, 1968, and meeting with Pavel at the track that evening, he said that they'd got lost getting to Dudley Wood and had to follow a chap on a motorbike that led them to the track. Because of the poor english, I thought he was relating the first visit of the previous year: "That was me, I said, last year. "No, he replied, - Today, - it happened again !"

Yes, Jack Young. All winners, 1939 to 2016, listed here, http://www.speedwaychampions.com/spplt-3-uk-local-helmets.php . . . www.speedwaychampions.com www.speedway-sa.com

I think we'd all like to see matches per se speeded up, but then the 15-heat programme would be even less of a night's entertainment and be over well within an hour, and fans would consider they've had even less for their money, esp'ly when you're forking out for a family . . . then Second Halves certainly would be necessary to justify your spend.

Second Halves served a useful purpose: - Winner (of 4) in the Novice Race got to ride (against programmed 3) in the Juniors' Race; - winner of the Jnrs got to ride against 3 team reserves in the Reserves Race, - and that winner got a ride against the #1s to #5s (plus home #6) in one of the 3 heats. Hence a new name could even get to the Scratch Final, - for example if a regular grass-tracker decided to try out speedway. So a rider got an opportunity to prove himself and claim a team place on current form, (and not on historical statistics. ) There's no facility for that today. . . www.speedwaychampions.com www.speedway-sa.com

Chance tomorrow (Saturday) to see some racing at Rye house again, - the 5-round BMR Flat Track Series, Rd.1 23 June Rd.2 28 July Rd.3 25 August Rd.4 29 September Rd.5 20 October After 2 rounds #500, Rob Mear, is the unbeaten Pro-Class leader, with Vince Hurst and Jon Bell in equal 2nd spot. Update yourself on Flat Track [url=http://www.speedwaychampions.com/flat-track.php] HERE [/url] . . www.speedwaychampions.com www.speedway-sa.com

The paying public on the terraces were obviously kept waiting even longer ! That's the problem ! !

Watched one of the videos on the SGB site a couple of days ago when the bulk of the video was 4 riders digging around ! - mostly off their machines, . . . .for far longer than the race itself. It needs controlling, i.e. limiting.

Former Cradley Heath and Reading rider Joe Weichlbauer (1966 & '67; 1968 resp'ly,) passed away on July 24th 2018, age 76, just a few weeks after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour. Born in Graz, Austria in April 1942, he emigrated to Western Australia c.1964 along with fellow Austrian Gunther 'Hec' Haslinger, where both of them took up speedway at the 640yd Claremont Speedway, Perth. Weichlbauer accompanied Chum Taylor to the UK in 1966 when the Heathens signed the new Aussie champ, but at 367yds, little more than half the size of Claremont, the junior found Dudley Wood difficult and had a limited 14 matches for the injury-stricken Heathens. In '68 he moved to Reading in the newly formed British Lge Div.2 and averaged 6.88 across the season. (Hec Haslinger came to the UK in 1970 and rode for Doncaster Dragons, moving over to the re-opened Birmingham the following year when the licence was transferred. Hec returned to Oz after the '71 season, but having married here, Joe remained in the UK, spending the last 40 years in Shropshire.) Joe Weichlbauer: Graz, April 1942 – Salop, July 24th, 2018.

I hadn't spotted this, - read the brief mtg review and results on the preceding page then binned it. Pics were coloured, but made b/w here for clarity of text. http://www.speedwaychampions.com/

After 3 rounds, when winners were Whitelam & Elliot (at Leicester,) and Cossar & Blyth (at Somerset, and at Kings Lynn,) the overall standing going into the Final Rd at Belle Vue in October is : - Mark Cossar & Carl Blyth, 31 (from 40) Paul Whitelam & Alan Elliott, 30 (from 43) Mick Cave & Bradley Steer 24 (from 34) Rod Winterburn & Billy Winterburn 22 (from 22, - 2 rds only ridden.) (the Championship is decided by the best 3 rounds from 4.) . So its all down to the last round on Oct. 13th. . . http://www.speedwaychampions.com/sidecar-champions.php

Results from Redcar: Spaniard Gerard Bailo on a Kawasaki took Rd. 3 of the 2018 DTRA British Championship, the first Spaniard to top the DTRA rostrum. 2nd was Rob Mears, 3rd Toby Hales. Mike Hill won the Thunderbikes Final . Rd. 4 is a TT round, (right-hand bend plus jumps,) at Greenfields, Lincs. on July 7. & 8th. Full Flat Track data HERE www.speedwaychampions.com www.speedway-sa.com

Just double-checked with the FIM website, - its not the 'World Championship Pairs'. ., its called the 'Speedway of Nations' competition. But one man can't be a nation, and neither can 2 men. If you're trying to identify the top nation, then just like the football world cup, it has to be a team, .. of the usual size that predominates in that sport: in football its 11, in speedway its 7, - (okay, I'll consider 6 or 8 . ) Football wouldn't have a World Cup that put up Ronaldo v. Kane v. Bales v. X v.Y, etc. in a shoot-out. Lets get back to proper internationals - we already have a Championship that determines the best rider, ( and we used to have a Pairs competition.)

If you can have a league where the team that tops the league table after 6 months isn't the league champions, then why expect the top points scoring pair not to have do something similar after completing the schedule ? I'm not defending the format, just pointing out the analogues.

A new page, “Flat Track Champions” has been added to the Speedway Champions website, Detailing all British Short Track and Flat Track championship winners and place-getters since inception in 2005, it completes the race disciplines covered under the 'Track Racing' department of FIM and ACU. Also included are ; - other European national champions, - e.g. Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland, Czech Republic, etc; - USA AMA dirt track Grand Nationals, and Canadian CMA winners from 1946; - FIM World Cup and European Championship results; - 'Flat Track of Nations' (= unofficial WTC); - Winter Open Invitationals, - in UK and the big Spanish 'Superprestigio', and background definitions/classifications on formats and machinery. . www.speedwaychampions.com www.speedway-sa.com . .