Ommer Mon

I've said before and Greyhound P also mentioned Mark Robinson. He would be great with the youngsters and would score plenty of points himself at that level. No idea if he would be interested but he did talk about it a while back when he scored 7+2 from 3 completed rides against a Birmingham Select.

They don't seem to have gate problems in the Olympique and there you could have four riders off a staggered start.

A last heat decider at Cov against Cradley, massive crowd with a great atmosphere, I think it was Wiggy and Alan Graham, anyway one of them was left at the start and just parked his bike long ways across the starting grid, race was stopped and Cradley done the business in the re-run....which didnt go down too well I remember it well - 1983. Very dangerous really but Wiggy won the rerun after gating third in the original heat. I think it ended 40-38 and Cradley went on to win the title that year. Suffice to say the Bees fans were less than impressed with us. I learnt a few new words that night!

One of the greatest frustrations in Speedway is seeing your rider leading only for someone else to fall off and we all know what happens in the restart - they usually trail in third. How about giving riders some credit for where they were in the original race and start from gate, 10 metres and 20 metres depending on the order at the time of the stoppage. It could also get away from the need to award so many races and give the fans a bit more entertainment. Just a thought.

Yes but have you considered the effect it may have on some of the other teams competing in the League? They are paying their riders for a shed load of points for both the home and away matches and Kings Lynn for example also drew Scunny in the Cup. In addition they also have the difficulty of selling this as 'entertainment' to their own supporters which will restrict revenue for that particular match at least.

Very sad news indeed. One of the few riders you could say looked graceful on a bike. RIP Simmo.

It may have been more entertaining to watch the rain falling. At least Scunny will be part of a double header when they come to Monmore, so we will see some racing in the Mildenhall fixture. PS Congratulations to the Potters on a good start to the campaign. A good bit of local rivalry would be good for both of us.

I recall a couple of incidents from the early 70s involving starting gates. The first was Rick Timmo riding for Oxford ar Cradley. The tapes went up and got caught under his full face helmet ( a novelty at the time) leaving him dangling in mid air with his legs kicking away. Exactly the same thing happened to Bernie Persson at Newport (Somerton Park) a couple of years after. Strange starting date there. They brought it out and installed it before the start of the match!

I was at Monmore that night (Gary's accident)and somehow you just knew that something was seriously wrong as soon as it happened. It was a dreadful feeling leaving the Stadium that night and one that has never left me when I think back. Thank God for air fences they have already prevented some serious accidents. As far as Tommy is concerned, he was a great prospect and I have no doubt he would have put in a very serious challenge for the World Championship. His style was something to behold. I will never know how he managed to twist his left leg to get his foot facing forward. Again his passing stunned the Speedway world. RIP both.

Does anyone remember the air brush painting on the back of Preben Eriksen's van? Suffice to say it was of a rather attractive lady with not a lot on and the story was that the Police made him apply sticking plaster to cover bits of it.

With three riders only in the race Rob Lambert retired and had half a wheel through the pits gate when someone waved their arms in the pits and got him to complete the race for a point. He was then promptly excluded for having outside assistance though nobody actually touched him or the bike at any stage. Apparently advice from the pits is now classed as assistance and the Ref got it 100% right. It was a new one on me and had the Sky boys bamboozled for a while too.

I agree with Great Central's comments on NL racing. I think it is a good product, with the notable exception of one team (and its not Stoke or Cradley!)at a reasonable price. Don't forget the top NL boys are going round tracks faster than Mauger, Olsen, Briggs and other greats of the past ever did and some of them are now regularly beating Elite League second strings. Back in the 70s 'juniors' could barely stay on on the straights let alone the bends. That's not the case any more!

Craziest fight I've ever seen was Jimmy Squibb and Jon Erskine at Dudley Wood. Both of them must have been into their 50s at that stage. I think I recall Squibby hanging on to Jon while he attempted to ride away. Oh the joys of Cradley / Wolves encounters. Seeing a couple of Hawks on here reminds me of the incident where Garry Middleton allegedly produced a gun from his tool box after an on track altercation with Roy Trigg or Mike Gardner. As the Voice of Reason said - all part of the entertainment.

Speaking as someone brought up on the likes of Penhall, Gundersen, Pedersen and the 'H' twins, I have to say that I find National League racing very entertaining. If you've tried it and don't like it fair enough but I wouldn't turn my back on it as a matter of principle without giving it a go. At the end of the day if there are seven riders out there representing my Club, I will go and support them no matter what level they are racing at. All opinions are equally valid though. Congrats to the Potters on a flying start to the season.

Back in1981, the Heathens had just ridden at Wimbledon. As was the custom, our coach stopped on the way home, this time at Watford Gap Services. As we were walking to the café, we spotted another coach pulling on decked out in green and white. We were puzzled, as we were sure that there had only been one Cradley coach. Still we were famished so we didn’t wait around and piled in for a midnight feast. As we were queuing to pay, the doors burst open and in came a load of Celtic fans. It was clear they were less than happy and, when we found a translator, we found out that they were on their way back from Juventus where they had been knocked out of the European Cup the night before. Worse than that, though, they had been ambushed by the Italian fans, shot at by the Police, their coach had suffered several damaged windows and one of their number had been left behind in hospital. They then proceeded to turn pinching food into an art form. The mesmerising passing manoeuvres they performed around the till were like watching Barcelona at their best. In the end, I think we had a really lucky escape, as while we were in the queue two Cradley girls were talking and one shouted out at the top of her voice “Any road ar doh no; wats the difference between Celtic and Rarengers”. Thankfully none of them understood a word. Phew!! The ‘Hoops’ trip home is still referred to on the Celtic web site!! Happy days.

Sverre Harrfeldt was a regular visitor to Cradley rather than Cradley Heath. Fortunately there is only about 3 miles between them.

Here is a suggestion. Bees fans need to establish what the planning designation for the site is to start with. If it is not zoned for leisure they need to make some representation to get the Council to designate it for that use. Once zoned as leisure it would make it much more difficult (but not impossible of course) to build houses etc on it. As others have said a clever ploy to say nothing will happen for 3 years. It does encourage a false sense of security but as speedibee says time travels fast. It would be a massive shame if Brandon disappeared and it is hellishly difficult to identify alternatives.

I can't be sure that this is true but I recall a story about a team travelling to Scotland on a coach and when it got to the border they asked a young Aussie if he had his passport with him. When he said he hadn't his team mates consigned him to the luggage hold to avoid 'customs' and there he stayed until they arrived at the track! Anybody know if this is true?

I do remember the Kent match last year Greyhoundp and you are right it was a cracker. I do think the Scunny encounter will be significantly less entertaining due to their team building strategy and it looks from Jayne's reply as though the League encounter may have to go on first. PS Just to make it clear I am not knocking any of the lads in the Scunny team and I hope they make it in the sport but results have shown that it may be a little early for some to be in a competitive League.

I hope Islander15 and adz-mft are right as an early after meeting pint could be the order of the day!

Bruce Penhall and Bobby Schwartz arriving at The Shay in a beautiful Rolls Royce and parking it on the first turn banking. It was an absolute mess and plastered with dirt by the end of the meeting. No idea who the owner was but I'm sure they would have had a shock!

This match is now going to be run as a double header on the night that Scunthorpe vist on 3rd June with a 7.15 start. A great move by the Promoters in that it will give the fans some proper racing to watch that night! I guess Scunthorpe will have to be on first as a League match usually takes precedence over the Cup but I would be inclined to put them on second if possible to reflect the relative entertainment value of the fixtures.

So much for that weather forecast. Major disappointment. Really looking forward to that!

Some rain predicted for lunch time but forecast to be dry tonight so hopefully not at risk. It should be a really good contest. I'm going for a Heathens win by 12 but with Tom and Matt missing I may be in for a disappointment. Good luck to all involved for a safe and entertaining evening.

Thanks for the info Ancient Mariner. I only met Colin on a couple of occasions but I agree with you. He certainly had a great love for the sport and the Falcons in particular.