Split

Well, I often walked home from New Cross Speedway and Millwall football ground in the 60's. I never encountered any thieving thugs and honestly never felt threatened in any way on my way home in the dark. It was quite a walk to East Dulwich but I was young and fit and a stop for fish & chips on the way provided some nourishment.

I think Steve was probably referring to the anniversary of the first known meeting in Britain, at High Beech in February 1928.

Bjorn Knutson was my all-time favourite rider. Retired too early of course or he would surely have won more than one world title and Ivan Mauger might not have won as many.

Salty was Cyril Brine's nickname at Wimbledon - are you related

Jim Lightfoot rose from being a useful second string in the early 60's to become a world finalist later in his career. Sad to see that we've lost another rider of that calibre.

Bugger! I would love to have gone to that get-together but I'm only seeing it now. I'm told that motor sport in general is not that popular any more here in South Africa although I really only follow speedway. I think it was sometime back in the 70's when I saw the World Champions travelling circus (with riders like Olsen and Briggs) riding at the old Wembley track in Johannesburg. Those days seem to long gone! It's sad when you think that South Africa has produced world class riders like Henry Long and Doug Davies in the past. Doug was one of my favorite riders when I supported New Cross back in the 60's.

Yes, riders these days do indeed tend to all look the same. The distinctive styles of riders like Mike Broadbank(s) and Les McGillivray made them instantly recognisable in action photos in days gone by. Ove Fundin's stiff left leg entering a bend was also very distinctive and obviously very effective when you look at his impressive record. Of course, supreme stylists such as Ronnie Moore and Björn Knutson were simply a pleasure to watch.

All three second strings of the New Cross National League team of the 60's (Luckhurst, McAuliffe and Gooch) actually went on to become world finalists.

Norman burst onto the scene in 1962. Open to correction here but I think that as a virtual unknown he ended up as top scorer for Leicester that year. It was the start of a wonderful career in which he earned numerous honours both as an individual and as a member of the England and Great Britain teams.

Apparently that nickname for Norman Hunter came about because his name was wrongly printed as N. Anchor in the speedway results in one of the daily newspapers.

Sorry to be pedantic but I think Norbold made a rare mistake as there was no Southampton/Provincial League Select match at New Cross in 1961 but only that one in July 1963 and I was also there. I happened to be standing nearby when Knutson and Pratt bumped into each other in the car park before the meeting and Björn greeted Colin with "hello Mister Maximum". So maybe he wasn't that surprised when Pratt beat him later. Norbold, I'm surprised you didn't see Southampton at Wimbledon in 1962 as many New Cross supporters like myself attended most meetings at Plough Lane that year as there was no speedway at the other South London venue.

"By Tre, Pol and Pen shall ye know Cornishmen."

I found this link which gives a good summary of Chum's career as well as an interesting interview. https://www.oldbikemag.com.au/chum-taylor-sandgroper-speedway-star/

I recall reading the rider profiles in one of Ernie Hancock's publications back in the 60's. Each rider's likes and dislikes were included but not in Chum Taylor's case as Ernie wrote that that his dislikes would have filled a publication of that size I looked up a few stat's and see that he started riding in 1948 and won the Australian championship 16 years later with a world final appearance in 1960 in between.

Was it Ron Johnson who lost a finger when it got stuck in the bike's chain while he was working on it? Maybe it was another incident but whoever the rider was he was rushed to hospital and when the doctor asked where the finger was he was told it was still stuck in the chain. Somebody had to go back and get to in order for the finger be reattached to the injured hand. Maybe it's apocryphal but I do remember reading that story in The Speedway Star years ago.

Maybe racing around a track on a bike with no brakes and facing trouble and danger on every bend simply doesn't appeal to the average man. As Mark Twain reminds us in his book about this rider's namesake, "The average man don't like trouble and danger."

I was also there, aged 16 but it wasn't my first meeting.

Well my first meeting was also in 1960 so it looks like we have an even more exclusive club forming.

I'm a long suffering Tottenham fan and their nickname is always given as The Lilywhites but for as long as I can remember, everybody has called them The Spurs.

I may be wrong but I think Barry Briggs would have been in that New Cross team and Barry at 87 is still with us.

Ah, but Lightfoot went on to steadily improve his average - up to 9.07 by 1966 with 8 full maximums. The Coventry team that year had arguably four riders of heat leader status with Boocock, Mountford and France also averaging over 9 points a match but they still finished up as runners-up to Halifax.

Jim rose from second string in 1961 (a 4 point average -see below) to world finalist in 1963. Quite an achievement! Riders Scores & Averages M R Pts B Ave M P Jack Young 37 101 194 11 8.12 2 2 Nigel Boocock 37 98 179 9 7.67 2 1 Les Owen 36 96 159 19 7.42 3 2 Ron Mountford 38 96 140 20 6.67 4 1 Nick Nicholls 38 91 105 22 5.58 - - Kazimierz Bentke 32 66 64 12 4.61 - - Jim Lightfoot 38 74 65 10 4.05 - 2 Maury Mattingley 6 10 7 0 2.80 - 1 Rick France 2 0 0 0 0.00 -

In 1970, the Boocock brothers represented England in the World Pair Championship. Does anybody know if any other brothers ever represented their country together in this competition?

I remember seeing Nero and the Gladiators at New Cross. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero_and_the_Gladiators

Allan Kidd of Poole Pirates starred in a television commercial that was shown nationwide in 1960 - 1961 for Players Weights cigarettes. It was in many of the national and local newspapers, and it also included a lady named Valerie, who was a fashion model for one of the big stores in Bournemouth. Allan and Valerie were actually married and they later emigrated to Canada.