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norbold

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Posts posted by norbold

  1. Mildenhall 2025

    in National League Speedway

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Rayleigh said:

    I cant believe "Round the Boards", "Norbold", "Haza" and "ch958."

    Firstly the accusation of Wimbledon is your version only and you use the platform to sink the Mildenhall project, so sad.

    In 1999 he and a friend relaunched Rye House without a home and from that success Rye House returned to Hoddesdon and ran for 18 years.

    He got closer to re-launching Norwich than anyone is 61 years

    He had already got Mildenhall back before and it was not him who closed it

    Kent Kings closed in 2022 and guess who not only reopened it, yes your nemesis Steve Ribbons, they played to crowds as big as 750 for 3rd division racing, it was so successful that Eastbourne are now running a league team at the venue. Oh and he was so bad at Iwade that a number of the staff have offered their help at Mildenhall 2025.

    If you all have personal issues with Mr Ribbons take it up with him DONT come on here with the intention to scuppering the ONLY hope Mildenhall have of returning to racing or prehaps you plan to reopen it yourselves?

     

     

    Why can't you believe me? Tell me what in my post was factually wrong?

  2. Mildenhall 2025

    in National League Speedway

    Posted

    10 hours ago, RoundTheBoards said:

    Just found this Speedway Forum post from @norbold regarding the ill-fated 2002 Wimbledon revival and its promoters:

     

    It was definitely Dave Cro ucher and Steve Ribbons who were behind the Wimbledon revival. They commissioned my book "Two Wimbldeon Legends" to launch on opening night. I offered to do it for nothing as long as they paid the printing costs, which they agreed. When I gave them the invoice from the printers, they both said I should speak to the other one about it and both denied ever making the agreement. In fact they both made it as I met both of them to talk about it. It took me over a year and various threats of legal action to get anything out of them and even then it only amounted to some of the cash and a number of complimentary copies of the book. Oh yes, it was those two all right. I'm not likely to forget it!

     

    Correct!

    • Sad 1

  7. Riders' First Names

    in Years Gone By

    Posted

    On 5/3/2024 at 2:39 PM, chunky said:

    Please note, the first names I have listed are the names they rode under. So, Split doesn't count as it was a nickname, and Squire doesn't count as he never used it!

     

    I believe he rode under the name of Squire in his early days during the Second World War when he rode those foreign tracks while in the army. Can I count it now, please?

    • Like 1

  9. Portsmouth Speedway

    in Years Gone By

    Posted

    The first speedway track to open in Portsmouth was in 1928 when a local man, Mr E I Jones, laid out a 440-yard track in a field, initially as a training track. The first proper meeting was held there on 15 July. A second followed on 29 July. This latter attracted a crowd of 2,000 people. But, sadly, that was the track's last meeting.

    Speedway returned to Portsmouth the following year, 1929. Promoting pioneer, A J Hunting, had planned to open Wessex Stadium in 1928, but the stadium did not, in fact, open until 10 August 1929 under the auspices of Wessex Speedway Co, in conjunction with Dirt Track Speedways (the company behind West Ham and Southampton speedways). This was also a 440-yard track. Because of the tie-up with West Ham and Southampton, many of the riders appearing at the first meeting were contracted to those two clubs and included Sprouts Elder, who won the day's major event, the Golden Gauntlet, Tiger Stevenson, Ivor Creek and Buzz Hibberd.

    The track continued to run a series of open meetings for the rest of August with riders of the quality of Frank Arthur and Bluey Wilkinson appearing. The last meeting that year was held on 31 August.

    A new 382-yard track was laid for the following year, with the first proper meeting being held on 21 April 1930. The track ran a series of challenge matches with a team called Portsmouth which included Steve Langton, Tiger Hart, Bill Clibbett and Ted Bravery.

    Plans to enter the Southern League in 1931 were aborted when the local council announced plans to build houses on the site. Although the plans to build houses never materialised, speedway was never again staged at Wessex Stadium. The last match ever staged there was between Portsmouth and West Ham on 2 October 1930, which ended in a 26-26 tie.

    In 1935, Harringay promoter, Tom Bradbury-Pratt, built a 300-yard track inside Portsmouth Greyhound and Sports Stadium at Tipnor. Bradbury-Pratt was having trouble completing all of Harringay's home fixtures so he planned this new track to ease the pressure on their Green Lanes track. In the event, however, only one league match was raced there, on 2 October, when Hackney defeated Harringay 35-32 in a National League match. A week later, a challenge match was due to be held against Wembley, but it was rained off.

    Speedway returned to the Tipnor track in 1937, when the Albatross Motorcycle Club promoted two meetings there, both challenge matches with Portsmouth taking on a team called Basingstoke and Reading.

    Further attempts to reintroduce speedway to Portsmouth after the War were made, but they proved unsuccessful.

     

     

    • Like 2

  11. 60 Years Ago. R.I.P. Norwich.

    in Years Gone By

    Posted · Edited by norbold

    I wasn't a Norwich fan. New Cross and West Ham were my teams, but I did have a soft spot for Norwich as the first match I ever saw was New Cross v. Norwich, with the great Ove Fundin scoring an 18 point maximum.

    I did hope to become a Norwich fan when, in 1964, I put down Norwich as my choice of Teacher Training College purely on the basis that I would be able to see Norwich every week. Sadly, between my application and my actually starting at college, Norwich closed! I only went to King's Lynn once.

    P.S. Not only did I not see Norwich while at college, I didn't become a teacher either. If it wasn't for the fact I had a really good time at college, it would have been a complete waste of time!

  13. Ian Williams R.I.P.

    in Years Gone By

    Posted

    8 hours ago, Split said:

    Sad to see another world finalist is no longer with us.

    Condolences to the family. 

    I remember watching Ian load his bike after a meeting and thinking that his handlebars were the widest I had ever seen on a speedway bike. 

    What, even wider than your hero's?

  17. 2025 GP line up/wildcards

    in Speedway Grand Prix and Speedway World Cup

    Posted

    20 hours ago, mikebv said:

    For me, the top six go through to next year, the next 8 go through to the GP challenge,with the 15th being "relegated"...

    That 8 race against 8 qualifiers and the top 8 qualify...

    With the SEC Champ getting the last place.. 

    If I remember correctly, the system used to be something like this but it was ended to stop Andy Smith qualifying every year!

  23. Where are they now?

    in Years Gone By

    Posted · Edited by norbold

    1 hour ago, steve roberts said:

    I used to get notifications but no longer?

    I'd say that's a quirk of Facebook not Karl. He is continually posting on many and various Facebook pages.

    He has put up 25 posts on his own page today, let alone his posts on other pages!

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