daveallan81

John Jackson racked up 55 plus 2 non-league from 1970-83. He missed out on 5 league tracks (Nelson, Glasgow Hampden, Bristol Eastville, Reading Smallmead and Leicester) and 2 non-league (Ashington & Motherwell). Tony Atkin would be lucky to hit 50.

How do you define an 'official' match at a training track? Is it not just a training session run to a format rather than a collection of random scratch races? To keep any sense of accuracy only appearances in an official capacity should be considered. Case in point: Graham Jones of Berwick rode in second halves at Eastville but never in a full meeting. Unless you had knowledge above and beyond the published results there is no way you could know this and the results become skewed. A hypothetical example, Jimmy Mac didn't 'officially' ride at Paisley, but he perhaps rode in a 'special guest match race series' one night? Without setting any criteria all you'll have until all avenues have been checked is a 'probable' list.

That was only to compare him directly to McMillan. So does Iwade count as a 'non-league licensed track'? It's all largely irrelevant for the overall result though, no-one from the 65-present era will beat Jimmy Squibb's figure, there just weren't enough tracks in operation.

Iwade for Thomas - no. I don't think training tracks should be considered to be honest. Looking at John Jackson's career time-line I don't think he'll beat Thomas but I'll run his figures later and see. Hollingworth is a decent shout but I don't have figures for 2003. I've set up a track list to pick from which also allows me to see which tracks a rider didn't ride on. For Lawson I know he only missed out on 2, so any rider with a career spanning 1974-92 could only have ridden 55 tracks. Similarly, as I mentioned before, any rider starting after 1990 can only hit 50. Thomas missed out on 6 tracks so there is still room for someone to pip him in the 65-90 period.

Glasgow rode at Hampden from 1969 to 1972. Barry Thomas scores 59. Taking a look at the modern-era 1991-date tracks earlier, I reckon only 50 tracks have run league speedway in that time so we can disregard any rider whose career began after 1990, in fact you could probably roll that back to post-1984.

Jim McMillan from 1966-86 clocked in at 57 tracks including Motherwell. If you adjust Hunter's figures and drop 60-64 he'd also be on 57. I make it 67 tracks plus 7 non-leaguers for 1965-90 and I think there's enough information about from that time frame to form definitive lists. During that period the following tracks all ran at least one open licence meeting without ever staging league speedway: Ashington, Brafield, Castleford, Cowdenbeath, Motherwell and Newtongrange. There was also one meeting out-of-season at Havingham in Norwich. Should those tracks be included? Maybe add them as a 'bonus' point eg. Jimmy Mac would be 56+1?

During a career lasting from 1974 to 1992, I reckon Steve Lawson rode at 53 tracks which represents all but two of the circuits that operated during this time frame (Bristol Eastville & Belle Vue Kirky Lane). He also rode on at least three indoor tracks - on the ice at Telford and Murrayfield and on the squeaky rubber at London Docklands. Steve's list: Workington Berwick (Shielfield) Barrow (Holker Street) Rye House Sunderland Eastbourne Birmingham (Perry Barr) Crewe Paisley Boston Newcastle Coatbridge Stoke (Loomer Road) Teesside/Middlesbrough Bradford (Odsal) Ellesmere Port Crayford Peterborough Scunthorpe (Quibell Park) Oxford King's Lynn Canterbury White City (London) Belle Vue (Hyde Road) Cradley Heath Swindon Sheffield Leicester Ipswich Mildenhall Exeter Halifax Weymouth Newport (Somerton) Edinburgh (Powderhall) Hull (Boulevard) Wimbledon Barrow (Park Road) Glasgow (Blantyre) Milton Keynes (Groveway) Nottingham/Long Eaton Coventry Scunthorpe (Ashby Ville) Reading (Smallmead) Wolverhampton Glasgow (Craighead Park) Berwick (Berrington Lough) Hackney Arena Essex Poole Birmingham (Wheels Complex) Glasgow (Shawfield) Milton Keynes (Elfield Park)

I can guarantee that Simmo never rode at Marine Gardens. You're thinking of Old Powdermeadow...

If you are to concentrate solely on the 'Backtrack era' I think you'd be looking for a rider who had a long career across both divisions. Barry Thomas for example. I didn't see any racing at Old Meadowhall but I was a regular at Powderbank

Jon Jon White

A sportsman lying to the referee. I've never heard the like...

If you want to go down that route don't forget Ellesmere Port - closed in 83 & 84, won the NL in 85, then closed never to be seen again.

I'd love to go to High Beech in 1928. Wearing a Wulfsport jacket.

Promoters only release attendance figures when they're looking for more money.

Long Eaton finished bottom of the NL in 1983, won the league in 1984.

Slight correction - I'm saying weather wasn't a factor - what I meant of course was it was only one of the factors considered. Belle Vue are a slightly grey area - clearly there was no chance of some of the fixtures going ahead. If you remove them from the equation completely the percentage is still a tasty 24.48% but realistically they must be charged with at least 4 cancellations which still returns the highest ever percentage at 26.53%.

Weather wasn't a factor. The only criteria was if a match was scheduled but wasn't staged.

I was reminded earlier that Tigers had a fun afternoon in the sun and dust at Mildenhall in 1989 that rekindled all the old rivalry which began at Blantyre. Fen Tigers didn't come to the tapes in 1990 which may further explain the 'ha-ha' comment.

The depressing news is that where postponements are concerned, 2016 is officially the worst start to a season since 1965. 43 matches out of 151 (28.48%) have been lost up to 30th April, nearly double those lost for the same period last season. 1979 had more actual matches postponed (44) but that came from 220 meetings. Best start to a season was 1969 when only 1 match was lost from 125. https://www.dropbox.com/s/uyg2iij8j4c55br/PostAbandendApril.pdf?dl=0

Actually I thought I'd revealed all, obviously not. Mildenhall were the recipients of that in-depth review, a far cry from their top status of 1979. Two tempestous visits to Blantyre in 81 and 82 probably had something to do with it...

I'm looking at the 1960 programme right now.

Some old Bristol programme scans (not mine), just one from 1960 though https://app.box.com/s/wm7cfpcwle17ebtue3q3/1/487190160

I'd start here http://www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk/bristol.html

Nicky Nicholson's website is worth a look http://glasgowcshistory.tripod.com/

Blow it out yer ass, McCaffery.