norbold

I never quite made it in mine. I was one of the best riders but never as good as Roger Gooding or Chris Friendship, two classmates of mine!

It seems highly unlikely that there would be an "official" Test match at High Beech in 1948. It was just a training track at the time; I don't think there were any matches of any sort that year, let alone an Official Test match. No idea who Ronnie Smith is either - he doesn't appear in Stenners' 1949 Who's Who in Speedway. I am wondering if maybe this was a birthday or Christmas present to a little lad called Ronnie Smith made up by his parents? Or perhaps Ronnie Smith was one of the trainees and it was a bit of a joke.

Peter Lipscomb

What more details do you require other than those already in the comments section?

It wouldn't have mattered. It was my brother who named me.

Norman Parker was a very special rider. I think it therefore goes without saying that anyone named after him must be very special too....

I have seen a copy of the cover you posted before (in fact I have a copy saved in my "Eastbourne" file), but I have never seen the whole programme.

Just to add, that when i was researching for my book, "75 Years of Eastbourne Speedway", I spent many happy days at the Colindale Newspaper Library searching through the Eastbourne Gazette and Eastbourne Courier files. I had read Homes of British Speedway, so I started my search for any mentions of speedway or dirt track racing at Arlington at the beginning of August 1928. The first mention I found, was the one I quoted above from 5 October 1928. There was absolutely nothing about speedway or dirt track racing before that. Honest, guv.

I can't see how there could have been an unofficial meeting in September 1928, seeing as the future track was just a field at the time and it wasn't until October that any work started on turning it into a dirt track. What contemporary sources are there for the 1928 meeting?

I don't think there were any meetings at Arlington in 1928. The Eastbourne Courier announced in its 5 October edition that, "The Eastbourne Motor-Cycle Sports Club have purchased a field at Arlington, with a view to building a dirt track." It wasn't until 5 August 1929 that the track opened to the public.

Thanks for telling me, BL!

When New Cross raced Belle Vue on 25 June 1947, Van Praag beat Langton in Heat Three. It was the only time they met that night. They met again on 16 July when again Van Praag beat Langton (Heat 11). They met for a third time at New Cross on 13 August, with Van Praag beating Langton yet again (Heat Seven). So 3-0 to Van Praag.

Quite frankly, Sidney, your tantrum and completely false accusations against chunky make me very wary of engaging in any more conversations with you on this Forum as it is difficult to know when you might suddenly turn on someone for no reason at all.

I really can't see your problem Sidney. This is what Chunky said: "I had seen Tommy a few times in 1975, and yes he was very good; the last time I saw him was when he won The Laurels with a 15 point max. I hadn't been at all in 1976, but it was Tommy's death that brought me back the following week. I get the point that Doug is making, and I agree that he was much improved in 1976, and as I said, I think he WOULD have got there - quite possibly that same year - but it was too early in 1976 to actually say that he had reached the elite few. It was a terrible tragedy, and we will never know." What do you disagree with there and what do you think he is lying about?

I'm not sure what the proper procedure was. It depends on who had the authority to grant approval in such matter. If the procedure at the time was that an application like the one Lansdale and Mawdsley submitted had to be approved by the County Council, then the District Council's approval would have in effect been a recommendation to the County Council that the application be approved, in which case, they should have waited until the County Council's final approval before starting work and if they started before receiving final approval than it's their own fault and can't be compensated. If the District Council had the authority to grant the approval, then, yes, you could be right, but I wouldn't have thought that was the position if the County Council overruled the District Council's approval.

Meetings were held at Rochester with a few trial meetings at the end of 1931. Two more were held in 1932, on 1 and 9 August. Lea Bridge's Alf Foulds won the Chatham Scratch Race. Pete Lansdale and Wally Mawdsley looked to revive speedway at Rochester in 1969 and built a 340 yard track. A demonstration race was held for the local Council on 14 March which was won by Martyn Piddock from Reg Luckhurst, Judd Drew and Ron Stewart. On 25 March, Rochester Council gave permission for a one-year trial period. Rochester then raced their first fixture, away at Ipswich on 17 April, followed by a second at Long Eaton. Following this meeting, Kent County Council overturned Rochester's approval and Lansdale and Mawdsley submitted an appeal, but thought it prudent to look for another home for the Bombers. As their office was in Romford, they spoke to the owners of Brooklands Stadium and reached agreement with them to stage speedway there. Before finally moving to Romford, they raced two more fixtures as Rochester (so four altogether), but then on 29 May, Romford opened and that was the end of Rochester.

Tommy Jansson is a classic example of a "what if" and a "we'll never know". His record at the time he died was good, but not that outstanding. He had won the World Pairs twice, but even then, on both occasions, it was very much as the junior partner to Anders Michanek. 1973: Michanek 15, Jansson 9; 1975: Michanek 17, Jansson 7. (By contrast in 1974, Sweden also won the World Pairs, but this time with Michanek 14, Sjosten 14). As you say, riders like Collins and Mauger certainly rated him highly as did the Wimbledon faithful of course. But, sadly, it is a case of what if and we'll never know....

Sorry, r&r, the reason I haven't replied to that thread is because I don't know here they are. I don't recognise them at all. I have looked through some West Ham photos but can't definitely match them with anyone.

http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/45430-jewish-speedway-riders/ If you look at the previous thread on this, you will see that someone called speedyguy said that Benny Kaufman was Jewish.

No, the rankings were the sole work of the editors of Stenners' Annual - Tom & Jim Stenner.

1946/7 1. Vic Duggan 2. Jack Parker 3. Tommy Price 4. Lionel Van Praag 5. Wilbur Lamoreaux 6. Bill Kitchen 7. Eric Langton 8. Ron Johnson 9. Norman Parker 10. Eric Chitty 11. Alec Statham 12. Malcolm Craven 13. Ray Duggan 14. Cordy Milne 15. Jack Milne 1947/8 1. Vic Duggan 2. Bill Kitchen 3. Norman Parker 4. Jack Parker 5. Tommy Price 6. Bill Longley 7. Alec Statham 8. Ron Johnson 9. Wilbur Lamoreaux 10. Eric Chitty 11. Malcolm Craven 12. George Wilks 13. Max Grosskreutz 14. Eric Langton 15. Bill Rogers 1948/9 1. Vic Duggan 2. Ron Johnson 3. Jack Parker 4. Aub Lawson 5. Wilbur Lamoreaux 6. Alec Statham 7. Norman Parker 8. Bill Gilbert 9. Oliver Hart 10. Eric Chitty 11. Graham Warren 12. Split Waterman 13. Ernie Price 14. Tommy Price 15. Bill Longley 1949/50 1. Jack Parker 2. Aub Lawson 3. Tommy Price 4. Vic Duggan 5. Wilbur Lamoreaux 6. Graham Warren 7. Jack Biggs 8. Norman Parker 9. Bill Gilbert 10. Dent Oliver 11. Split Waterman 12. Oliver Hart 13. Ron Clarke 14. Louis Lawson 15. Ken Le Breton 1950/51 1. Graham Warren 2. Jack Parker 3. Aub Lawson 4. Tommy Price 5. Ken Le Breton 6. Fred Williams 7. Cyril Roger 8. Norman Parker 9. Cyril Brine 10. Eric French 11. Jack Young 12. Wally Green 13. Bert Roger 14. Alec Statham 15. Ron Clarke 1951/2 1. Jack Young 2. Split Waterman 3. Aub Lawson 4. Ronnie Moore 5. Olle Nygren 6. Fred Williams 7. Jack Parker 8. Eddie Rigg 9. Alan Hunt 10. Jack Biggs 11. Cyril Roger 12. Norman Parker 13. Tommy Miller 14. Bob Leverenz 15. Eric Williams 1952/3 1. Jack Young 2. Split Waterman 3. Ronnie Moore 4. Fred Williams 5. Aub Lawson 6. Bert Roger 7. Alan Hunt 8. Eddie Rigg 9. Dick Bradley 10. Cyril Brine 11. Henry Long 12. Ron Johnston 13. Bob Leverenz 14. Tommy Miller 15.Olle Nygren 1953/4 1. Jack Young 2. Ronnie Moore 3. Split Waterman 4. Fred Williams 5. Olle Nygren 6. Aub Lawson 7. Geoff Mardon 8. Arthur Forrest 9. Alan Hunt 10. Basse Hveem 11. Tommy Price 12. Eric Williams 13. Ken Sharples 14. Dick Bradley 15. Tommy Miller

OK. I'll have to think of another way of sharing them.

There was also a nominated riders' heat for some of Ove's time.

Does for me.

SPEEDWAY STAR Rankings.docx